Columbia  ®ntoerattp 

mtfteCttpufJtotork 

THE  LIBRARIES 


Bequest  of 

Frederic  Bancroft 

1860-1945 


s-^a&? 


Cr/z^i^7<L 


"THEM    MISSIONARY 
WOMEN" 

OR 

WORK  IN  THE 
SOUTHERN  MOUNTAINS 


BY 

GRACE  FUNK  MYERS 


HILLSDALE,  MICH. 

1911 


M991/ 


Copyright   1911 

BY 

GRACE  FUNK  MYERS 


/^  W3  If 


PREFACE 

This  little  book  is  not  a  fanciful  and 
dramatic  grouping  of  imaginary  char- 
acters, but  rather  the  weaving  together 
of  a  chain  of  events  and  facts  gathered 
while  living  and  working  among  the 
mountain  people  of  the  south. 

One  noted  writer  has  said:   " Men's 
weaknesses  and  faults  are  known  from 
their  enemies;   their  virtues  and  abili- 
ties from  their  friends;  and  their  cus- 
_r  7 

toms  and  lives  from  their  servants." 

So  we  might  say  of  the  mountain 
people,  about  whom  much  has  been  said 
and  written;  their  faults  and  weak- 
nesses have  too  often  been  magnified 
by  those  who  felt  prejudiced  and  un- 
friendly toward  them;  while  some  of 
their  over  sympathetic  friends,  too  will- 
ing to  judge  the  whole  by  the  conduct 
of  a  few  who  have  done  marvelously 
well,  are  given  to  writing  and  speaking 

3 


4  Preface 

of  them  with  undue  praise  and  optim- 
ism for  their  future.  But  the  faithful 
missionary,  who  out  of  necessity  lives 
and  works  among  them,  becoming  a 
servant  for  all,  in  his,  or  her,  humble 
ministry,  being  "all  things  to  all  men 
that  they  might  win  some,"  are  the  ones 
who  come  in  possession  of  the  real  facts 
and  truth  concerning  the  faults  and 
virtues,  the  abilities  and  customs  of  the 
American  Highlanders  of  the  south. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     A  Four  Days'  Trip  Over  the  Blue 

Kidge  Mountains 7 

II.     Opening  a  Mission 25 

III.  A  Disturbing  Element 38 

IV.  Mrs.  Grundy  Finds  More  Fault 53 

V.     Working  Out  From  Headquarters. .  66 

VI.     Our  First  Christmas  Celebration  at 

Headquarters 81 

VII.     Mission  Converts  Make  Comparisons.  93 

VIII.     The  Soldier  Boy  in  the  Philippines.  101 

IX.     A  Cheerful  Giver 105 

X.     A  Eiot  in  the  Cumberlands 116 

XI.     A  Promiscuous  Gathering  Under  a 

Shed 124 


"Them  Missionary  Women" 
Or  Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains 


CHAPTER  I 

A    FOUR  DAYS'    TRIP   OVER    THE    BLUE    RIDGE 
MOUNTAIN 

Two  strong  horses,  a  hack  and  an  ex- 
perienced driver  were  engaged  to  take 
Miss  Grayson  and  myself  for  a  long 
drive  over  the  mountains.  There  was 
a  lively  time  on  that  chilly  October 
morning,  loading  the  hack  with  such 
things  as  we  were  sure  to  need.  A 
lunch  box  filled  with  eatables  which 
would  keep  for  several  days,  shawls, 
blankets,  rubbers,  umbrellas,  satchels, 
and  a  long-handled  gourd  which  we 
used  for  a  dipper,  were  all  deposited 
under  the  seats  and  we  set  out  in  good 
spirits,  anticipating  an  interesting 
drive.  We  were  not  disappointed.  The 
air  was  cool  and  bracing,  the  birds  were 

7 


8  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

singing,  and  the  squirrels  ran  playfully 
up  and  down  the  large  trunks  of  the 
chestnut  trees,  having  a  rare  feast,  as 
the  great  brown  chestnuts  had  just 
begun  to  ripen  and  fall. 

As  we  traveled  on  over  those  rugged 
hills,  viewing  the  heavy  foliage  so  richly 
tinged  with  red  and  gold,  the  grand  old 
pines  towering  up  so  high,  forming  a 
magnificent  background  for  the  ivy,  the 
laurel,  and  the  holly  trees,  beautifully 
decorated  with  clusters  of  red  berries, 
we  were  so  delighted  and  charmed  with 
this  unusual  exhibition  of  God's  handi- 
work in  nature  that  our  hearts  were 
inspired  with  new  thoughts  of  Him  who 
so  often  retired  to  the  mountains  to 
pray,  traveling  over  the  hills  of  Judea 
seeking  the  lost,  and  comforting  the 
poor  and  needy. 

We  passed  log  cabins  daubed  with 
mud,  with  open  fire-places  and  stick 
chimneys;  with  puncheon  floors  and  no 
glass  windows;  occupied  by  large  fami- 
lies, whose  chief  employment  seemed 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  9 

to  be  hunting,  fishing,  and  tending  a 
small  patch  of  corn  or  tobacco,  often 
seen  growing  on  the  side  of  the  moun- 
tain, where  it  is  too  steep  for  an  ox 
or  mule  to  travel;  in  such  cases  the 
mattock,  spade,  or  hoe  is  used  instead 
of  the  modern  plow. 

Stopping  for  a  short  time  in  one  of 
these  homes,  we  got  our  first  glimpse 
of  an  old-fashioned  spinning  wheel,  as 
there  was,  sitting  in  the  middle  of  the 
room,  one  which  showed  signs  of  being 
in  operation  a  short  time  before  we  ar- 
rived, as  there  was  a  fresh  roll  of  wool 
on  the  spindle.  It  being  the  first  one 
I  had  ever  seen,  I  gave  vent  to  my 
curiosity  by  asking  permission  to  ex- 
amine it,  a  machine  which  I  knew  had 
been  very  popular  in  my  grandmother's 
day.  But  on  handling  the  little  three- 
legged  structure,  turning  the  wheel 
backward  at  my  very  first  stroke,  I  ap- 
peared very  ignorant  and  behind  the 
times  in  the  eyes  of  her  who  never  as 
yet  had  thought  of  its  being  possible 


10  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

to  get  along  in  the  world  without  a 
spinning  wheel.  And  suddenly  to  be 
brought  face  to  face  with  a  person  who 
had  never  seen  one  caused  her  to  fasten 
her  dark  eyes  upon  me  with  as  much 
curiosity  as  I  had  displayed  on  viewing 
the  wheel  on  first  entering  the  room. 

Her  whole  countenance  was  a  great 
interrogation  point,  as  she  said  with 
emphasis,  "And  you  never  seed  a  spin- 
nin'  wheel!  An'  yer  don't  know  how 
ter  spin  % ' '  After  finding  out  that  along 
some  practical  lines  she  possessed  more 
knowledge  than  I,  she  waxed  friendly 
and  communicative,  and  with  an  air  of 
self-importance  and  satisfaction  turned 
toward  the  wheel  and  began  to  spin, 
that  she  might  enlighten  me  more  fully 
as  to  her  own  skill  and  the  true  worth 
of  her  wheel  by  showing  me  how  rapidly 
she  could  transform  the  large  round 
rolls  into  knitting  yarn. 

Her  sister,  living  in  the  same  neigh- 
borhood, not  having  enough  money  to 
buy  wool  for  her  winter  stockings,  dis- 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  11 

played  more  perseverance  than  is  com- 
monly practiced  by  the  average  Ameri- 
can girl.  Going  into  the  dense  forest, 
with  her  own  hands  she  split  some 
rich  pine  boards  from  the  trunk  of  a 
tree,  and  by  setting  them  over  a  trench 
which  she  dug,  keeping  a  fire  near  the 
timber,  she  succeeded  in  catching- 
enough  drippings  to  make  a  gallon  of 
tar,  which  she  carried  on  foot  seven 
miles  to  the  nearest  town,  selling  it 
for  thirty  cents.  With  this  hard  earned 
money  she  purchased  wool,  which  she 
then  spun,  and  knit  into  stockings. 

Our  driver  not  taking  enough  grain 
with  him  to  feed  his  horses,  thought  he 
could  buy  from  the  farmers  by  the 
way,  but  soon  found  that  this  was  not 
an  easy  thing  to  do,  as  we  were  now 
passing  through  the  moon-shine  dis- 
tricts, where  the  corn  was  all  used  up 
by  the  corn  whiskey  manufacturers  as 
soon  as  it  was  ready  for  market.  Call- 
ing at  a  dozen  homes,  we  were  refused 
each  time,  all  making  the  same  excuse 


12  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

for  not  selling,  saying:  "You  see, 
stranger,  we  'uns  have  jist  got  barely 
enough  corn  ter  make  our  breadstuff, 
an'  ain't  got  ne'ry  bit  ter  spare;  but 
mebby  you'll  find  some  at  the  next 
place."  Thus  we  drove  on  for  miles 
till  our  sympathies  were  quite  aroused 
for  the  poor  horses  doing  such  faithful 
service,  and  in  need  of  a  good  dinner 
as  well  as  ourselves,  for  the  cool  air 
had  given  a  keen  edge  to  our  appetites. 
Coming  to  a  larger  field  where  a  quan- 
tity of  corn  was  piled  up  in  the  front 
yard,  our  man  jumped  out  of  the  hack, 
leaving  the  horses  to  our  care,  while 
he  walked  over  to  investigate,  having 
no  doubt  that  there  he  could  get  all 
the  corn  he  needed.  The  owner  of  the 
coveted  heap  was  a  widow,  who  eyed 
him  with  no  little  suspicion  as  he  ad- 
vanced toward  the  house.  Making 
known  the  object  of  his  visit,  he  offered 
her  fifty  cents  per  bushel  for  her  corn, 
that  being  the  highest  market  price. 
"Humph!"   she   replied,   removing   a 


Woi'k  in  the  Southern  Mountains  13 

snuff  stick  from  her  mouth  with  a  jerk, 
"you  needn't  think  you  ken  fool  me 
in  a  corn  bargen,  fur  I  ken  git  that 
at  the  store  over  thar,  an'  it  won't  pay 
me  ter  let  you  have  it  fur  what  I  ken 
sell  it  at  the  store."  Failing  to  con- 
vince her  that  fifty  cents  was  the  high- 
est price  being  paid  anywhere  for  corn 
at  that  time,  she  wound  up  by  saying 
"she  didn't  care  ter  sell." 

Amused  and  disappointed,  we  drove 
on,  but  soon  found  all  the  grain  we 
needed.  In  conversing  with  these  peo- 
ple living  so  far  back  in  the  hollows 
and  gorges,  I  learned  that  but  few  of 
them  had  ever  seen  a  railroad,  a  type- 
writer, a  telephone,  or  a  bicycle,  and 
that  their  knowledge  of  all  the  modern 
inventions  now  being  used  by  man  in 
the  great  busy  world  was  surprisingly 
limited;  yet  I  found  it  refreshing  and 
interesting  to  talk  with  them  about  the 
wild  animals  and  their  habits,  the 
mountain  streams  and  the  rocky  peaks, 
the  birds  and  the  most  popular  trails, 


14  "Them  Missionary  Women' 

the  great  cool  springs  and  the  wild 
flowers,  all  of  which  are  abundant  in 
these  silent  way-side  places  where  so 
many  of  the  people  live. 

The  little  corn  mills,  located  along 
the  mountain  streams  in  almost  every 
neighborhood — the  capacity  of  which, 
in  many  cases,  is  about  one  bushel  per 
day — were  among  the  many  curious 
things  which  we  looked  upon  by  day, 
and  thought  of  by  night.  The  men 
driving  their  little  oxen  with  hickory 
bark  traces,  and  the  house  wives  sweep- 
ing their  one  room  houses  with  a  bun- 
dle of  sedge  grass  tied  with  a  string, 
gave  me  a  new  revelation  of  the  genu- 
ine independence  of  some  of  our 
American  cousins  in  the  highlands. 

Any  student  of  natural  history  would 
find  it  well  worth  wrhile  to  spend  a  few 
hours  with  one  of  these  belated  chil- 
dren of  the  forest,  whose  only  occupa- 
tion from  childhood  has  been  to  study, 
and  enjoy,  and  appropriate  for  his  own 
personal  use  the  things  of  Nature. 


]Yorl-  in  the  Southern  Mountains         15 

The  first  evening  after  leaving  home, 
we  were  fortunate  enough  to  find  a 
very  good  house  where  we  stayed  all 
night,  the  family  being  exceptionally 
kind  and  thoughtful  of  our  comfort. 
But  at  the  close  of  the  second  day  we 
were  in  a  place  where  the  outlook  for 
a  comfortable  night's  lodging  was  any- 
thing but  promising. 

It  was  growing  dark  when  we  drove 
up  to  the  home  of  a  very  poor  family, 
who  lived  in  a  flat,  swampy  place  on 
the  river;  in  an  old  mill  house  which 
had  been  converted  into  a  dwelling  of 
two  rooms.  The  kitchen  having  no 
floor  but  the  bare  ground,  and  the  other 
room  used  for  sitting,  dining,  and  bed- 
room, had  no  window.  A  heavy  door 
made  of  rough  boards,  with  a  big  chain 
hanging  to  it,  was  pushed  to  at  night, 
and  a  chair  set  against  it.  After  closing 
the  door  and  fastening  it  in  this  fash- 
ion, our  kind  host  looked  at  us  with 
an  assuring  smile  and  said,  as  if  to  rid 
us  of  all  disturbing  doubts  concerning 


16  "Tliem  Missionary  Women" 

our  safety — "A  chair  does  just  as  good 
as  a  lock  that  'ud  cost  fifteen  or  twenty 
cents;  and  we're  not  one  bit  afeard  o' 
robbers  in  these  parts;  for  they'd  soon 
find  out  that  there's  mighty  poor  pick- 
in'  around  here." 

Our  hostess  was  a  tall  woman  with 
a  dignified  bearing,  and  for  an  unedu- 
cated person  used  good  English.  She 
was  warm,  frank  and  hearty  in  extend- 
ing to  us  the  hospitality  of  her  home; 
and  for  one  who  was  compelled  by 
circumstances  to  live  in  such  sordid 
poverty  we  found  her  exceptionally 
tidy  in  her  housekeeping.  Her  table 
was  set  with  more  taste  than  is  gen- 
erally displayed  by  the  average  woman 
in  such  communities;  and  the  bed  we 
slept  in  was  quite  clean  and  comfort- 
able. As  I  studied  her  finely  chiseled 
face;  her  firm,  set  mouth;  her  broad, 
smooth  brow;  large  blue  eyes,  and 
thick,  wavy,  black  hair,  I  concluded  she 
was  naturally  a  strong,  well  tempered 
woman,  and  if  educated  would  have 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  17 

stood  equal  with  the  brightest  and  best 
women  of  the  land. 

Going  a  little  deeper  into  conversa- 
tion, my  interest  in  her  was  much  in- 
tensified as  she  told  me  her  maiden 
name  was  Ball,  and  claimed  to  be  one 
of  George  Washington's  descendants — 
a  third  cousin,  I  believe,  to  the  Father 
of  our  Country.  She  became  enthusi- 
astic while  discussing  the  subject  at 
the  tea  table,  as  she  was  expecting  to 
come  into  possession  of  some  property 
in  Washington,  D.  C,  which,  she  said, 
rightly  belonged  to  the  Washington 
heirs. 

I  shall  not  soon  forget  her  attitude 
or  looks.  How  her  sunburnt  features 
would  light  up  between  the  dips  of 
snuff,  of  which  she  partook  freely  after 
finishing  her  meal! 

Seating  herself  in  a  low  chair  by  the 
fire,  she  began  to  unfold  to  me  more 
fully  her  financial  prospects. 

"Now,"  said  she,  "it  comes  to  my 
mind  that  mebby  you  are  just  the  one 


18  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

to  advise  me  about  my  share  o'  the 
property;  a  cousin  o'  mine  is  now  look- 
in'  it  up,  to  see  what  can  be  done.  A 
hundred  years  ago  George  Washington 
leased  a  piece  o'  land  to  some  parties 
in  and  about  where  the  city  o'  Wash- 
ington now  stands.  This  lease  was 
made  for  just  ninety-nine  years;  and 
by  this  time  the  land  would  be  so  valu- 
able, if  wTe  could  succeed  in  gittin'  it 
straightened  out,  it  would  be  a  sight  o' 
help  to  us.  The  lease  has  now  run  out 
and  it  ought  to  go  into  the  hands  o' 
the  heirs  at  once.  As  well  as  we've 
been  able  to  reckon  it  up,  my  part 
would  amount  to  about  thirteen  hun- 
dred dollars." 

Thus  she  talked  on,  growing  more 
and  more  confidential  all  the  while. 
Perceiving  my  interest  in  her  story  of 
the  antiquated  Washington  land  lease, 
she  ventured  further,  confiding  to  me 
her  plans  as  to  how  she  purposed  to 
use  the  anticipated  thirteen  hundred 
dollars! 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  19 

" First  of  all,"  she  continued,  "I  will 
buy  a  few  acres  of  land,  and  build  a 
house  on  it,  with  three  rooms.  Then 
I  will  buy  a  good  cow,  an'  horse;  an' 
this  wTill  give  us  a  fine  start,  it  all  bein' 
our  own;  and  I  think,  as  we  are  down 
here  by  the  mill,  I  ken  make  some 
money  keepin'  boarders  at  a  dollar  and 
a  half  a  week;  so  then  I  ken  take  the 
rest  o'  the  money  an'  send  my  two 
children  to  school.  I  never  wanted 
anything  so  bad  in  my  life  as  I  wanted 
a  education;  but  there  wusn't  much 
chance  fur  me  when  I  wus  young;  an' 
I  remember  how  I  used  to  go  out  in 
the  woods  alone,  when  I  wus  a  girl,  an' 
think  it  all  over  an'  wish,  an'  wish,  that 
I  could  get  some  learnin'  so  as  to  be  a 
Missionary;  but  it's  too  late  fur  me 
now;  but  I  want  to  do  the  best  I  ken 
by  my  children,  so  as  they  ken  be  of 
some  use  in  the  world."  The  fire  in 
the  great  fireplace,  where  the  logs  had 
blazed  and  crackled  for  several  hours, 
at  last  burned  low;   and  we  retired  to 


20  "Them  Missionary  Women' 

rest  for  the  night,  the  greater  part  of 
which  I  spent  in  turning  over  in  my 
mind  the  events  of  the  day,  and  the 
strange  things  which  this  kind  woman 
had  told  me  of  herself,  her  relations, 
and  her  present  hopeful  outlook.  Se- 
cretly, I  entertained  grave  doubts 
about  her  hopes  ever  being  realized; 
and  finally  fell  asleep,  a  little  while  be- 
fore the  day  dawned.  Sleeping  but  a 
short  time,  I  was  suddenly  aroused  by 
the  vigorous  exercising  of  their  favor- 
ite rooster,  perched  upon  a  pole  in  the 
chimney  corner,  just  outside  of  the  thin 
board  partition  which  separated  the 
bed  room  from  the  hennery.  Flapping 
his  wings  energetically,  he  crowed  at 
intervals,  about  five  minutes  at  a  time, 
until  he  had  whiled  away  nearly  a  full 
half  hour;  flapping  and  crowing  as  a 
rooster  would,  located  far  away  from 
civilization,  entirely  relieved  of  all  ex- 
citing fears  about  being  overthrown 
and  demolished  in  a  pit  fight,  suddenly 
consigned  to  the  market  box,  or  put 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  21 

on  exhibition  for  two  whole  weeks  at  a 
county  fair. 

Supremely  happy  in  serving  in  the 
capacity  of  a  family  alarm  clock,  he 
made  that  weird,  lonely,  hollow  ring, 
with  his  clear,  shrill  notes;  and  as  the 
old  man  crawled  slowly  out  of  bed  and 
began  to  stir  up  the  fire  he  said:  "When 
that  rooster  begins  to  flap  his  wings 
and  crow  in  that  fashion,  I  al'ays  know 
it's  time  to  be  gittin'  up." 

Breakfast  over,  a  very  old  Bible,  cov- 
ered with  a  brown,  hair  skin,  was  taken 
down  from  the  shelf  in  the  corner,  and 
we  were  asked  to  have  prayers  with 
them. 

Before  leaving,  our  host  gave  us  a 
kind  invitation  to  stop  with  them  in 
the  future,  if  we  should  ever  chance  to 
pass  that  way,  adding  that  "they  would 
always  be  glad  to  see  us;  and  though 
they  were  too  poor  to  give  us  good  ac- 
commodations, they  would  give  us  lots 
o'  welcome  if  we  would  come  again." 
Poor  as  they  were,  they  refused  to  let 


22  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

us  remunerate  them  for  their  kindness ; 
and  with  this  very  unusual  hospitality, 
shown  to  us  by  perfect  strangers,  we 
were  much  impressed  and  pleased. 

In  one  neighborhood  through  which 
we  passed,  stopping  long  enough  to 
visit  the  district  school,  we  found  about 
thirty  young  mountaineers  toiling  up 
the  hill  of  knowledge  in  a  unique  way; 
for  while  the  citizens  of  that  com- 
munity had  been  prosperous  enough  to 
erect  a  log  school  house,  they  had  not 
as  yet  been  able  to  get  it  seated;  so  the 
young  learners  were  seated  on  the  floor 
in  front  of  a  big  fireplace,  presided  over 
by  a  young  lady  teacher,  timid  and  shy, 
and  who  did  not  seem  to  appreciate 
having  her  school  put  on  exhibition  in 
such  an  impromptu  manner  for  us 
strangers.  We  relieved  her  embarrass- 
ment by  making  a  brief  call;  but  this 
scene  reminded  us  of  the  early  strug- 
gles of  our  good  President  Lincoln,  who 
did  his  first  ciphering  in  the  loft  of  a 
log  cabin  in  Kentucky,  using  a  wooden 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  23 

shovel  for  a  slate,  and  a  piece  of  keel, 
which  he  picked  up  by  the  brook,  for  a 
pencil. 

We  had  hoped  to  reach  home  by  the 
close  of  the  fourth  day;  but  as  the 
shades  of  evening  began  to  gather 
about  us  we  learned  that  we  were  near- 
ly fifteen  miles  from  our  abiding  place, 
which  meant  that  we  would  either  have 
to  put  up  for  another  night  in  one  of 
the  very  poorest  of  log  cabins  or  drive 
three  hours  after  dark,  down  a  steep 
mountain,  wrhere  the  road  was  very 
narrow  in  places.  But  after  comparing 
our  own  beds  with  the  accommodations 
that  we  were  likely  to  receive  in  that 
locality,  we  decided  to  brave  the  dark- 
ness and  chill  of  the  night  and  take  the 
chances  on  being  thrown  out  of  the 
wragon  into  some  deep  ravine  a  hundred 
feet  below,  rather  than  put  up  in  one 
of  those  crude  homes,  where,  for  rea- 
sons too  numerous  to  mention,  we  could 
not  hope  to  get  even  one  hour's  rest. 
After  jogging  along  for  about  an  hour, 


24  "Them  Missionary  Women' 

we  were  much  relieved  by  seeing  the 
moon  rise  like  a  great  ball  of  fire  over 
the  way,  though  it  was  some  time  be- 
fore we  derived  much  benefit  from  her 
light,  as  the  forest  was  so  dense  the 
moon  beams  could  not  shine  through 
sufficiently  to  light  up  our  road  until 
she  took  a  more  lofty  seat  in  the  sky 
and  began  to  send  forth  her  welcome 
rays  directly  over  our  heads. 

The  end  of  our  journey  we  reached 
in  safety,  but  our  bodies  were  so  tired, 
our  feet  so  cold,  and  our  stomachs  so 
empty,  we  could  not  help  feeling  that 
we  had  paid  pretty  dear  for  all  the 
pleasure  we  got  out  of  the  trip,  and 
fully  enjoyed  the  luxury  of  our  own 
home  and  beds  for  the  rest  of  the  night, 
though  our  home  was  only  a  small  cot- 
tage where  we  slept  on  straw  beds,  with 
no  springs,  and  warmed  ourselves  by 
the  open  fireplace ;  but  it  was  our  home, 
and  that  made  all  the  difference. 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  25 


CHAPTER  II 

OPENING  A  MISSION 

'Twas  a  bright  morning  in  the  early 
spring  when,  on  getting  off  the  train 
at  a  little  country  railroad  station,  I 
walked  up  to  the  front  of  a  dingy, 
rickety  old  summer  boarding  house, 
where  a  tall,  half-witted  fellow  was  sit- 
ting idly  on  the  piazza,  whittling  a  stick 
and  humming  a  silly  love  tune.  Rising, 
he  called  the  lady  of  the  house,  who 
stared  at  me  in  silence  for  a  second, 
then  invited  me  to  come  in,  seating  me 
in  a  large,  barny  looking  room,  with  a 
bare  floor  which  had  long  remained  un- 
molested by  soap  and  water.  Being  a 
curious  person,  and  naturally  sus- 
picious and  distrustful  of  strangers, 
she  at  once  proceeded  to  put  me 
through  a  long  role  of  catechising  as 
to  my  name,  occupation,  whether  I  was 


26  "Them  Missionary  Women' 

married  or  single,  and  the  religious  de- 
nomination to  which  I  belonged. 

I  answered  all  of  her  pointed  ques- 
tions, without  seeming  to  notice  the 
abruptness  of  her  manner,  for  it  was 
quite  evident  that  she  (Mrs.  Grundy) 
felt  herself  a  little  above  the  average 
mountain  woman  in  that  vicinity,  but 
failed  to  conceal  the  fact  that  she  was 
more  lacking  in  education  and  good 
manners  than  in  self-esteem. 

After  learning  it  was  my  intention 
to  open  a  mission  somewhere  in  the 
mountains,  she  at  once  gave  me  a  brief 
history  of  almost  every  family  in  the 
neighborhood,  describing  to  me  in  word 
pictures  the  dark  record  of  a  number  of 
individuals,  whom  she  thought  might 
be  reached  and  saved,  if  the  proper 
course  was  taken  and  the  right  influ- 
ence thrown  around  them. 

But  later  it  was  revealed  that  Mrs. 
Grundy's  enthusiasm  had  not  reached 
such  heights  in  so  short  a  time  because 
of   her   desire    to    see    her   neighbors 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  27 

helped,  but  a  happy  thought  came  to 
her  which  she  believed  would  work  out 
for  her  own  personal  interests.  i '  For, ' ' 
said  she  to  a  friend,  "if  a  mission  is 
opened  here  and  they  get  deeply  inter- 
ested, they'll  be  sure  to  buy  land  and 
make  it  permanent,  and  if  I  encourage 
them  they'll  probably  purchase  some 
lots  of  us,  and  that  would  give  us  a 
chance  to  pay  off  our  mortgage  and  get 
on  our  feet  again." 

One  day  the  startling  announcement 

was  made  in  the  village  of that 

the  only  empty  house  in  the  place  had 
been  rented  by  some  missionary  women 
who  were  going  to  open  a  day  school 
and  Sunday  school,  visit  all  the  people, 
and  hold  religious  meetings.  Follow- 
ing this  unexpected  announcement, 
there  was  much  gossiping  among  the 
villagers,  and  such  questions  as  "What 
does  it  all  mean?  What  do  you  suppose 
they're  goin'  ter  teach?  How  did  they 
happen  ter  come  here,  and  what  do  yer 
suppose   they're   paid   fur   doin'   sich 


28  "Them  Missionary  Women* 

work?"  floated  rife  among  them. 
"Well,"  said  old  Jimmy  Lynn,  "if 
them  missionaries  ain't  Roman  Catho- 
lics, then  I've  missed  my  guess." 
"Catholics?"  said  Samuel  Day.  "Not 
much  Catholics  about  them.  If  you 
ever  hear  that  little  one  pray  and  read 
the  Bible  as  she  did  in  my  house  tother 
day,  you'd  never  say  Catholic  ag'in,  you 
shore  wouldn't."  "Now,  looky  here," 
said  Lynn,  "I'm  not  easy  fooled  an'  tuk 
in,  I  tell  yer  I  ain't.  I've  heard  that 
Catholics  have  schools  an'  women 
al'ays  teach  their  schools,  an'  if  them 
women  don't  turn  out  ter  be  Catholics, 
then  I'll  say  ag'in  that  old  Jim's  missed 
his  guess." 

"Say,  'Squire,"  said  Aunty  Brown, 
as  she  stood  in  the  door  of  her  cabin 
home,  "have  you  heard  the  good  news 
about  them  Missionary  women  a-comin' 
here?  I  blieve  that  wonderful  things 
are  a-goin'  ter  happen  right  here  in  this 
'ere  very  settlement  afore  long.    I  do 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  29 

hope  when  they  hold  meetin's  they'll 
git  a  holt  o'  my  boy." 

"Well,  I  don't  know  jist  what  ter 
think,  Aunty  Brown,"  said  'Squire 
Junkey.  "Hit  seems  sorter  strange 
that  they'd  come  here,  and  some  say 
that  they're  jist  goin'  ter  preach  an' 
carry  on  dreadful,  an'  I'll  tell  yer  right 
now,  Aunty  Brown,  I  don't  b'lieve  that 
any  woman  livin'  ken  preach,  an'  if 
they  come  here  an'  git  up  on  the  plat- 
form fur  ter  blab,  then  I  b'lieve  they 
are  men  dressed  up  in  women's  clothes. 
An'  we'd  better  all  watch  'em  mighty 
close  ter  see  if  they're  any  good  or  not, 
an'  time '11  tell.  Barney  Smith,  I'm 
glad  you've  come,  fur  I've  been  a- want- 
in'  ter  ask  you  if  you're  a-goin'  ter  send 
yer  children  ter  the  new  mission 
school.  Some  have  been  a-askin'  me  if 
you'd  been  drawn  in  with  'em." 

"No,  'Squire,  I  jist  tell  yer  how  it  is 
with  me.  One  of  'em  called  at  our 
house  t'  other  day  an'  my  children  tuk 
ter  her  powerful,  an'  she  talked  mighty 


30  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

fair,  too,  I  tell  yer.  But  I  don't  like  ter 
send  my  young 'uns  till  I  find  out  jist 
what  they're  goin'  ter  teach.  Now, 
some  say  that  they  are  a-goin'  ter  teach 
ever 'thing,  an'  then  ag'in  some  say  they 
ain't  goin'  ter  teach  nothin'  but  the 
Bible,  an'  there's  one  thing  sart'in — I 
can't  buy  Bibles  fur  all  o'  my  chaps 
now,  unless  I  knowed  jist  how  the 
baccer  crap  wus  a-goin'  ter  turn  out,  so 
I'll  jist  wait  a  spell  an'  see  how  things 
go,  an'  if  I  find  out  fur  sure  that  they're 
all  right,  then  I'll  send  all  o'  mine  as 
soon  as  I  ken  git  'em  ready." 

"Well,  you'd  better  look  out  an'  be 
mighty  keerful  an'  be  sure  they're  all 
right  before  sendin'  to  'em,  that's  my 
advice,"  said  Junkey. 

Little  Miss  Bright  set  out  to  visit  a 
neighborhood  lying  back  of  the  village, 
where  lived  a  number  of  large  families 
in  a  lonely  gorge.  Walking  up  to  the 
door  of  a  small  but  exceptionally  clean 
cabin  home,  where  an  old  lady  sat  on 
the  doorstep  knitting,  while  her  three 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  31 

grandchildren  played  in  the  yard — ap- 
proaching her  with  a  friendly  smile, 
she  offered  to  shake  hands.  Seeing  the 
old  lady's  reluctance  to  reciprocate  her 
friendly  greeting,  she  explained  to  her 
that  she  was  one  of  the  missionary 
teachers  who  was  out  visiting  among 
the  people.  On  hearing  this  bit  of  in- 
formation, her  attitude  and  looks  sud- 
denly changed.  Bounding  to  her  feet, 
her  face,  which  bore  marks  of  intelli- 
gence and  natural  refinement,  beamed 
with  pleasure.  Stepping  forward,  she 
she  placed  a  hand  on  each  of  Miss 
Bright 's  shoulders  and  as  quick  as  a 
flash  implanted  a  kiss  on  her  cheek,  ex- 
claiming, "I've  hearn  about  yer,  an'  yer 
raly  be  one  o'  them?  Come  in,  honey! 
Come  in!  I  jist  hope  the  day '11  soon 
come  when  the  good  Lord '11  flood  this 
country  with  jist  sich  good  women  as 
you  be.  There's  three  children  fur  yer 
school,"  she  continued,  pointing  to  the 
children  who  had  now  gathered  about 
the  door.   "I  never  had  any  hope  of  'em 


32  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

ever  gittin'  any  larnin'.  The  oldest  is 
now  agoin'  on  twelve  years  old,  an' 
never  seed  inside  of  a  school  house  in 
her  life,  an'  never  will  unless  you  good 
women  take  her  in,  now  that  you've 
come  among  us  ter  do  good." 

After  stopping  long  enough  to  get 
acquainted  with  the  children,  who 
promised  to  come  to  school  the  follow- 
ing Monday,  Miss  Bright  took  her 
leave,  receiving  the  old  lady's  warmest 
benedictions;  who  urged  her  to  call 
again,  "And  be  shore  to  come  stay  all 
day  and  take  dinner."  The  following 
week  the  grandfather  came  trudging 
over  the  hills  leading  the  little  children 
by  the  hand.  At  the  door  of  the  mission 
school  he  committed  them  to  the  care  of 
Miss  Bright,  remarking,  "He  felt  shore 
she  could  make  'em  larn  if  anybody 
could." 

A  few  days  later  Miss  Bright  and  I 
called  at  the  home  of  Jimmy  Lynn, 
finding  him  sitting  under  a  tree  smoking 
his  pipe.    Seeing  us  he  hastily  rose  to 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  33 

his  feet,  jerking  his  pipe  nervously 
from  his  mouth,  and  stared  as  if  he  in- 
tended to  try  to  escape  without  speak- 
ing; then  suddenly  changing  his  mind, 
he  turned  and,  leaning  heavily  on  his 
cane,  met  us  in  a  quiet,  heroic  manner. 

"I  suppose  this  is  Mr.  Lynn,"  said  I. 
"We  are  glad  to  meet  you,  for  we  are 
strangers  in  this  part  of  the  country, 
and  we  are  told  that  you  are  one  of  the 
oldest  settlers  here,  so  we  thought  we 
would  like  to  advise  with  you  concern- 
ing our  work;  besides  Miss  Bright  here 
is  a  member  of  your  own  denomination 
and  she  thought  she  would  like  to  meet 
you  on  that  account — '  birds  of  a  feather 
will  flock  together,  you  know.'  " 

When  old  Jimmy  joined  the  church 
of  his  choice — the  anti-Mission  Baptist 
— long  years  before  he  made  up  his 
mind  that  in  all  places  and  under  all 
circumstances  he  would  stand  by  the 
members  of  his  own  denomination. 
What  to  do  now  he  is  at  a  loss  to  know. 
He  has  not  yet  recovered  from  his  first 


34  "Them  Missionary  Wo?nen" 

suspicions  that  we  were  Catholics,  and 
he  still  has  a  nervous  dread  of  "bein' 
fooled  and  tuk  in,"  as  he  expressed  it. 
Then,  too,  everybody  was  talking  freely 
about  "Them  missionary  women"  and 
there  are  a  thousand  rumors  afloat 
about  this  new  mission,  and  he,  with  the 
rest,  had  already  announced  his  opinion. 
In  his  heart  he  wants  to  do  right,  and 
our  open,  friendly  way  pleased  him  and 
caused  him  to  feel  that  he  could  trust 
us.  Understanding  the  situation,  we 
talked  a  while  about  things  in  general, 
then  telling  him  to  what  particular 
branch  of  the  organized  church  I 
claimed  membership,  I  said :  ' '  You  see, 
Mr.  Lynn,  while  we  belong  to  different 
denominations,  there  is  nothing  so  beau- 
tiful as  to  see  Christians  all  working 
together  to  make  the  country  better  and 
to  bring  souls  to  Christ." 

Then  opening  my  Testament  I  read  a 
few  verses  about  "having  love  one  for 
another"  and  "all  belonging  to  one 
body  in  Christ,"  etc.    We  then  sang  a 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  35 

verse  of  "  Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds 
our  hearts  in  Christian  love,"  and 
prayed  that  Mr.  Lynn  might  be 
strengthened  and  that  his  wayward 
boys  might  be  reached  and  saved. 
When  we  rose  the  tears  were  streaming 
down  the  old  man's  face  and  he  shook 
hands  warmly,  asking  us  to  call  again. 

On  his  way  to  the  post  office  that 
evening  he  met  Samuel  Day  and  with  a 
high  head  and  a  look  suggestive  of  de- 
termination, he  said:  "Day,  what  you 
said  about  them  missionary  women  is 
alright;  and  I've  made  up  my  mind  that 
other  people  can  do  as  they  please,  but 
I'm  goin'  ter  stand  by  'em  through 
thick  an'  thin."  "I  thought  you'd  be 
took  in,"  said  Day,  "if  you  had  a  chance 
to  hear  'em  pray.  I  do  hope  they'll  stir 
up  this  whole  settlement  a 'fore  long; 
goodness  knows  we're  a  needin'  it  bad 
enough;  we  shore  do!" 

In  a  dilapidated  old  church  building 
which  was  offered  us  for  our  work,  our 
first  public  meeting  was  held  on  Sunday 


36  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

evening.  The  posting  of  bills  and  writ- 
ing of  newspaper  notices  was  unneces- 
sary to  get  the  announcement  circu- 
lated, for  the  news  spread  like  a  wild 
prairie  fire  on  a  windy  day,  which,  when 
well  started,  nothing  could  stop. 

The  people  came  in  crowds  and  filled 
the  house  at  an  early  hour.  Many  rid- 
ing on  horse  back,  some  behind  ox 
teams,  while  others  trudged  through  the 
mud,  carrying  little  children  in  their 
arms.  Some  came  to  hear  the  truth,  and 
many  came  out  of  sheer  curiosity,  to 
hear  and  to  see  "Them  missionary 
women,"  whose  presence  in  the  com- 
munity had  excited  so  much  wonder 
and  comment. 

Aunty  Brown  came  early  so  as  to  get 
a  front  seat.  Samuel  Day  took  his  place 
near  the  platform  and  joined  in  singing 
the  first  hymn  as  if  the  sweet  strains  of 
music  from  a  heavenly  choir  had 
reached  his  ear,  bringing  his  good,  re- 
ceptive soul  into  close  touch  with  all 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  37 

the  redeemed  and  blood-washed  singers 
of  the  glory  land. 

Jimmie  Lynn  raised  his  trembling 
voice  in  the  first  prayer  service  and 
gave  thanks  to  God  for  sending  the  mis- 
sionary children  among  them  to  teach 
them  how  to  live  right. 

The  first  meeting  was  one  of  great 
power,  and  the  second  night  the  house 
would  not  hold  the  people.  When  the 
invitation  was  given  to  the  unconverted, 
Barney  Smith  and  four  of  his  compan- 
ions rose  for  prayer,  while  Squire 
Junkey  and  a  number  of  his  friends 
looked  on  critically  from  the  rear  of  the 
church. 

Thus  the  work  increased  in  interest 
every  night,  till  nearly  one  hundred  had 
sought  and  found  Christ.  Among  the 
number  was  Jimmie  Lynn's  two  boys, 
Aunty  Brown's  only  son,  and  Samuel 
Day's  three  grown  girls.  The  enthusi- 
asm was  high  and  a  blessed  tidal  wave 
of  salvation  swept  everything  before  it 
for  weeks  and  months  to  come. 


Them  Missionary  Women' 


CHAPTER  III 

A  DISTURBING  ELEMENT 

A  minister,  living  in  the  community, 
preached  near  the  village  once  a  month 
who  could  read  but  very  little  and  could 
not  write  his  name. 

He  quarreled  with  his  congregation 
during  the  week  and  hurled  sarcasm 
in  their  faces  on  Sunday.  He  pounded 
the  Bible  with  his  fists  and  made  a  spit- 
toon of  the  inside  of  the  pulpit,  as  he 
rarely  ever  addressed  his  audience  with- 
out a  quid  of  tobacco  in  his  mouth — a 
part  of  his  own  crop.  He  supported 
himself  and  family  by  working  in  a 
tobacco  field  during  the  week  and  acting 
as  the  spiritual  instructor  of  the  people 
on  Sundays,  receiving  for  his  ecclesi- 
astical services  about  ten  dollars  per 
year. 

Becoming  jealous  of  this  new  mission 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  39 

attracting  so  much  attention  he  held  a 
conference  with  his  members  and  de- 
cided to  canvass  the  district  and  warn 
all  the  people  against  the  missionaries 
and  their  work.  Applying  himself  dili- 
gently to  his  task,  he  wrorked  with  all 
his  might,  believing  he  could  put  an 
end  to  this  new  craze  in  a  short  time. 

On  hearing  one  of  the  missionaries, 
who  was  a  college  graduate,  give  an  ad- 
dress, at  the  close  of  the  service  he  re- 
marked to  a  friend:  "I  thank  God  that 
the  skirts  o'  my  coat  never  breshed 
agin'  e'ry  college  wall;  what  I  give  out 
to  you  people  is  no  fix  up  o'  mine,  it's 
God's  Holy  Writ." 

'Twas  a  dark,  gloomy  day  in  mid- 
summer wThen  he  (Rev.  Umbry)  sad- 
dled his  little  one-eyed  mule,  replen- 
ished his  hip  pocket  with  a  fresh  twist 
of  tobacco,  lit  his  cob  pipe,  mounted 
and  rode  awray  on  what  he  considered 
a  very  important  round  of  duties, 
namely,  the  speedy  extinction  of  all 
missionary  influence  in  that  whole  re- 


40  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

gion.  Peeling  sure  of  success,  he  moved 
forward  in  his  work  with  far  more  con- 
fidence than  most  ministers  who  take 
up  their  duties  as  pastor  after  gradu- 
ating with  honors  from  some  high  grade 
theological  school.  His  prominence  as 
a  leader  he  greatly  enjoyed,  and 
chuckled  at  the  thought  of  the  way  the 
people  would  honor  and  reverence  him 
after  their  eyes  were  opened  and  he  had 
succeeded  in  driving  error  out  of  their 
land. 

The  first  person  he  met  after  setting 
out  on  his  round  was  old  Joe  Grimes, 
who  had  been  one  of  the  worst  drunken 
sots  in  that  part  of  the  country,  but 
several  months  before  was  converted  in 
the  mission. 

Approaching  him  in  a  confidential 
way  he  began  to  pour  out  his  objections 
to  the  missionaries  and  their  work  and 
asked  Joe  if  he  didn't  think  it  would  be 
better  for  him  and  for  the  whole  settle- 
ment to  stand  by  the  old  teaching  and 
the  old  ways,  instead  of  running  round 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  41 

after  new  things.  Drawing  himself  up 
and  looking  at  him  in  a  way  that  would 
impress  one  that  he  at  least  felt  equal 
to  any  attack  his  would-be  spiritual  ad- 
viser might  make,  and  mopping  his  face 
with  an  old  tattered  bandanna  handker- 
chief, Joe  said:  "I  know  what's 
the  matter  with  you:  you're  a  gittin' 
skeered  fur  fear  that  them  missionary 
women  will  tell  you  some  thin'  you  don't 
know.  You  needn't  came  a  fishin' 
round  here  fur  missionary  horns  ter 
blow  in  yer  church,  fur  I'm  a  mission 
man  to  my  heart's  core.  Nobody  knows 
better  an'  I  what  kind  of  a  pit  they  dug 
me  out  of.  Their  kind  o'  preachin',  a 
tellin'  of  the  love  o'  God  ter  save  a  poor 
sinner,  is  good  enough  fur  me.  I  aint 
got  no  use  fur  your  old  scare  religion: 
a  talkin'  about  them  that's  dead,  and 
the  graveyards  that's  awaitin'  fur  us 
all.  Hit  never  did  me  nor  no  one  else 
in  this  settlement  any  good  as  I  know 
about,  and  others  will  tell  you  the  same, 
or  Joe's  missed  it  worse 'en  he  ever 


42  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

missed  it  when  he  drunk  whiskey  till 
he  didn't  have  nery  bit  o'  sense,  that's 
all  I  have  ter  say." 

Seeing  his  argument  had  availed 
nothing  in  this  case,  he  rode  on  to  the 
house  of  Mary  Ann  Jenkins,  who  had 
stood  aloof  at  first  and  for  some  time 
after  others  had  put  their  children  in 
school  and  were  sounding  the  praises  of 
' ' Them  missionary  women,"  she  said 
but  little,  and  quietly  kept  her  children 
home.  Being  a  strong,  true  character, 
she  believed  in  first  looking  into  a  thing 
before  making  up  her  mind  as  to 
whether  it  was  right  or  not,  and  when 
her  mind  was  made  up  "then  stickin'  to 
it,"  as  she  expressed  it. 

For  several  weeks  Mary  Ann's  mind 
had  been  made  up  that  the  mission  was 
just  what  she  and  her  family  needed, 
and  had  already  declared  that  it  was 
her  intention  to  make  missionaries  out 
of  her  two  youngest  daughters  and  a 
school  teacher  out  of  the  oldest,  if,  said 
she,  "the  missionaries  stay  among  us  so 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains         43 

as  to  give  'em  the  proper  trainin'. 
Umbry,  being  well  acquainted  with 
Mary  Ann's  disposition  and  her  strong 
liking  for  what  she  thought  would  be 
lasting  and  enduring  and  not  vanish  and 
burst  like  a  soap  bubble  as  soon  as  she 
began  to  praise  and  admire  it,  at- 
tempted to  discourage  her  by  saying, 
"the  mission  work  looked  all  right  to 
her  now,  but  from  some  things  he'd 
found  out  lately  he  was  sure  it  would 
soon  be  a  thing  of  the  past,  fur  the  mis- 
sionaries were  just  here  long  enough  to 
gather  up  some  o'  their  nickles  and 
would  soon  go  away  ter  leave  all  the 
people  in  the  lurch  who  had  been  a  run- 
nin'  after  them,  liking  their  work  to 
one  of  the  mountain  freshets  when  the 
water  wrould  run  high  for  a  time,  then 
suddenly  go  down,  leaving  nothing  but 
little  stagnant  pools  here  and  there." 

She  listened  quietly  until  he  had  fin- 
ished, then  tossing  her  knitting  across 
the  foot  of  the  wooden  bedstead  and 
adjusting  herself  in  her  stiff-backed, 


44  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

split-bottomed  chair  and  locking  her 
hands  tightly  in  front  of  her,  she  drew 
a  long  breath  and  said:  "You  may 
think  that  Mary  Ann  Jenkins  don't 
know  what  she's  about,  but  some  day 
you'll  find  out  that  her  head  is  a  long 
sight  leveler  than  yourn.  I  never  had 
any  chance  to  git  an  education,  but  I 
want  my  children  to  be  something,  and 
to  stand  in  with  the  best  of  'em,  and  I'm 
mighty  particular  whose  hands  they  fall 
into,  and  I  didn't  put  nery  child  I've 
got  into  that  day  school,  nor  Sunday 
school  neither,  till  I  first  went  there  my- 
self an'  hearn  'em  teachin'  the  right 
thing.  Then,  said  I  to  myself,  now, 
Mary  Ann  Jenkins,  this  is  your  chance 
in  a  hull  lifetime,  and  you'd  better  put 
all  o'  yourn  in  as  soon  as  you  can  git 
'em  there.  And  as  shore  as  I  live  every 
one  of  'em  can  read  an  write  an  figger 
a-ready,  and  repeat  more  Bible  then  I 
ever  heard  you  repeat,  or  any  other 
preacher  that  ever  come  to  these  parts. 
So  I'll  give  you  and  everybody  else  ter 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains         45 

understand  that  while  the  water  is  high 
Mary  Ann  Jenkins  an'  her  gang  are  a 
goin'  ter  wade  in  an'  stay  in  as  long  as 
there's  enough  left  ter  wet  the  soles  o' 
our  feet;  an'  as  fur  my  old  man,  he's 
jist  got  in  so  deep  he's  got  washed 
cleaner  thin  I  ever  expected  to  see  'im 
in  this  world,  an'  it  wasn't  through 
goin'  ter  your  church,  an'  hearin'  you 
preach  that  he's  been  made  more  fittin' 
to  live  with,  either.  So  now  that  you 
know  my  mind  about  it,  enough's  been 
said  on  the  subject." 

Eliza  Grimes,  Joe's  wife,  was  very 
generous,  though  poor,  and  she  some- 
times showed  her  appreciation  by  send- 
ing little  gifts  to  the  mission,  such  as 
vegetables,  squashes,  pumpkins,  etc., 
her  pumpkin  crop  this  year  being  fine. 
As  she  gathered  them  in  November  she 
laid  aside  some  of  the  largest  and  best, 
saying  "she  was  going  to  send  them  to 
the  mission  just  before  Christmas." 

Umbrey's  salary  was  due  in  this 
month,   so   one   of  his  deacons  asked 


46  "Them  Missionary  Women' 

Eliza  if  she  didn't  think  it  her  duty  to 
give  him  something,  although  she  did 
not  belong  to  his  church.  Giving  her 
head  a  little  toss  and  turning  on  her 
heel  with  an  air  of  great  superiority, 
she  said:  "I  git  the  best  gospel  I  ever 
heard  right  over  there,"  pointing  to 
the  mission  house,  "and  I'm  agoin'  ter 
pay  them  missionaries  well,  too,  if  I  do 
have  to  pay  'em  in  pumpkins.  So  you 
needn't  come  to  me  to  help  out  with 
Umbrey 's  salary,  for  I'm  not  supportin' 
preachers  as  can't  tell  me  things  I 
don't  know. 

Becoming  weary  and  tired  with  his 
fruitless  endeavors  to  turn  the  minds 
of  the  people  or  to  break  up  our  work, 
Rev.  Umbrey  at  last  decided  that  the 
best  policy  for  him  was  to  be  more 
friendly  with  us.  So  occasionally  he 
dropped  into  our  meetings,  never  fail- 
ing to  take  part  in  the  open  testimony 
service. 

We  had  now  enrolled  just  half  a  hun- 
dred pupils  in  our  day  school,  and  a 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  47 

congregation  of  three  hundred  people 
attended  the  other  services. 

Being  crowded  to  the  utmost,  all  of 
our  work  was  carried  on  in  rooms  too 
small  for  comfort.  With  the  encourage- 
ment and  help  of  northern  friends  I  de- 
cided to  erect  buildings  suitable  for  our 
work. 

Jimmie  Lynn  offered  to  donate  a  lot, 
much  to  Mrs.  Grundy's  disappoint- 
ment, who  was  watching  every  move- 
ment of  the  missionaries. 

One  day  she  came  to  me  and  said 
"she  wished  to  have  a  talk  in  interest 
of  the  work  we  were  doing,"  asking  me 
if  I  didn't  need  about  twenty-five  acres 
of  land,  informing  me  that  she  had  a 
piece  she  would  sell  very  reasonable  if 
the  purchase  could  be  made  right 
away  through  some  good  northern  so- 
ciety, wrhom  she  knew  I  would  be 
capable  of  interesting  in  such  a  scheme. 
But  her  price  being  far  from  satis- 
factory, I  failed  to  act  upon  her  propo- 
sition. 


48  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

Jimmie  Lynn's  lot  not  being  rightly 
located,  I  purchased  lots  from  other 
parties  and  commenced  the  work  of 
building.  But  this  sudden  blasting  of 
all  of  Mrs.  Grundy's  hopes  to  get  per- 
sonal gain  out  of  our  mission  enterprise 
and  a  certain  quiet  dignity  exhibited 
on  several  occasions  by  our  lady  teach- 
ers who  could  not  afford  to  let  her  con- 
trol and  manage  the  school  work,  which 
she  boldly  attempted  to  do  a  number  of 
times,  greatly  stirred  her  carnal  nature. 

Taking  a  bold  stand  against  us,  she 
made  a  public  speech  or  two  in  small 
Sunday  schools  and  in  day  schools. 
Ridiculing  our  work  and  workers,  all 
of  whom  had  come  from  the  North; 
filling  the  air  for  miles  around  with  her 
poisonous  hissings  against  the  "  Yankee 
workers,"  as  she  called  us,  "coming 
from  the  North  to  the  beautiful  South- 
land, putting  the  Southern  people  on 
missionary  ground,  instead  of  going  to 
China  or  Japan  or  to  some  other  coun- 
try where  such  work  was  needed." 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains         49 

Her  third  class  boarding  house  kept 
open  during  the  summer,  was  a  little 
market  place  for  many  of  the  poorer 
people  who  could  not  afford  teams  to 
drive  to  the  nearest  city  with  their  little 
surplus  of  produce.  So  she  flatly  told 
her  poor  customers  that  she  would  no 
longer  buy  from  persons  who  in  any 
way  patronized  the  mission.  But  the 
people  appreciated  the  food  they  were 
receiving  for  mind  and  soul  more  than 
food  for  their  bodies,  and  in  spite  of 
every  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon 
them,  they  were  true. 

There  was  a  little  Sunday  school  near 
by  in  which  she  worked  which  we  had 
in  every  possible  way  tried  to  help,  and 
when  a  new  child  would  come  into  this 
school  she  would  tell  them  they  could 
not  be  taught  there  unless  they  would 
promise  never  to  go  to  the  mission 
school.  But  even  the  little  children 
noticed  the  difference  between  the  spirit 
of  love  and  the  spirit  of  evil,  and  they 
not    only   remarked    about    it    among 


50  "Them  Missionary  Women3 

themselves,  but  flocked  to  the  mission 
in  large  numbers  after  listening  to  her 
unholy  exhortations  to  keep  away. 

The  following  conversation,  which 
took  place  between  one  of  Mr.  Grundy's 
sympathizers  and  a  member  of  my  large 
Bible  class,  not  only  showed  how  the 
work  w7as  appreciated  by  hundreds 
who  were  helped  by  the  teaching  which 
they  received,  but  it  also  showed  the 
power  of  a  good  and  Christ-like  ex- 
ample among  those  who  were  ignorant 
and  prejudiced  against  us. 

One  day  Squire  Junkey  sat  down 
beside  a  path  leading  up  to  the  mission 
to  have  a  talk  with  little  Jeff  Mooney, 
who  was  a  member  of  my  Bible  class. 
Among  other  things  he  said:  "Well, 
Jeff,  I've  jist  stood  off  and  talked  agin 
that  mission  work  'til  I'm  ashamed. 
I've  done  it  more'n  a  little,  but  I've  set 
out  to  turn  over  a  new  leaf,  for  I'm  jist 
beginnin'  to  git  my  eyes  open  about  the 
whole  thing  since  old  Mrs.  Grundy's 
been  tearin'  around  like  a  mad  cat,  and 


^York  in  the  Southern  Mountains  51 

no  matter  what  she  says  or  does,  them 
missionary  women  jist  go  right  on  in 
their  straightforward  way  a  tellin'  o' 
the  love  o'  God  and  a  lookin'  after  the 
poor  little  children  and  a  teachin'  them 
good  things,  and  never  say  one  wTord 
agin  anybody.  They  are  the  most  in- 
dependent women  I  ever  seed  in  all  my 
life,  and  sometimes  when  that  one  that 
seems  to  stand  at  the  head  o'  things 
starts  out  to  do  something  when  she 
ain't  got  hardly  any  thin'  to  do  it  with, 
she  jist  moves  right  ahead  and  seems 
jist  as  happy  as  she  can  be  all  the  time. 
Now  I  never  seed  that  kind  o'  religion 
practiced  in  these  parts  before,  and  I 
believe  it's  the  right  kind,  and  it's  just 
what  this  settlement  needs.  I'm  agit- 
tin'  mighty  tired  of  all  this  fussin'  and 
fightin'  and  from  this  time  on  you  can 
call  me  a  mission  man." 

"Well,  I'm  mighty  glad  you've  come 
in,"  said  Jeff;  "lots  o'  people  are  be- 
ginnin'  to  see  it  the  same  way.  Think 
of  old  Mrs.  Grundy  findin'  fault  with 


52  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

the  North  fer  sendin'  missionaries  to  a 
place  like  this,  where  she  and  some 
others  act  worse  than  the  heathen  in 
China,  an'  Japan.  I  wish  they'd  send 
a  hundred  more  like  the  ones  they  have 
sent.    I'd  help  to  rig  up  wagons  to  haul 


'em." 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  53 


CHAPTER  IV 

MRS.  GEUNDY  FINDS  MORE  FAULT 

Our  mission  people,  though  all  poor, 
were  divided  into  two  distinct  classes. 
One  class,  being  proud  and  self-respect- 
ing, made  an  honest  effort  to  help  them- 
selves, appreciating  aid  and  instruction, 
but  never  soliciting  charity;  showing  a 
disposition  to  work  for  all  favors  re- 
ceived and  would  suffer  rather  than 
place  themselves  on  a  level  with  beggars 
and  paupers. 

The  other  class  was  lazy  and  shiftless, 
and  would  not  work  except  from  dire 
necessity,  spending  their  time  round  in 
conspicuous  places  whittling  with  a 
jack  knife,  smoking  tobacco,  dipping 
snuff  and  feeding  upon  the  latest  gossip 
with  no  higher  ambition  than  to  cheat 
as  many  people  as  possible  in  their  little 
deals  and  to  draw  on  the  sympathies  of 


54  "Them  Missionary  Women'3 

the  missionaries  for  practical  assist- 
ance; caring  not  how  they  got  along, 
just  so  they  could  in  some  way  get 
along  without  work.  Comparatively 
few  of  this  latter  class  was  numbered 
among  the  patrons  of  our  mission. 
However,  Peter  Hans  was.  His  chil- 
dren were  in  the  Sunday  school  and  he 
attended  all  the  other  services.  By 
calling  at  the  mission  almost  every 
week,  soliciting  clothes  for  himself  and 
family,  he  made  himself  very  obtrusive, 
not  willing  to  be  refused.  He  had  re- 
ceived substantial  aid  from  our  second- 
hand clothes  room,  which  the  mission- 
ary societies  replenished  from  time  to 
time  with  their  helpful  barrels,  ere  we 
learned  that  he  was  shiftless  and  un- 
worthy. Though  he  faithfully  promised 
to  work  for  all  we  gave  him,  we  never 
succeeded  in  getting  him  to  do  the 
smallest  job  around  the  mission,  no  mat- 
ter how  much  we  needed  him. 

Our  rule  for  the  disposition  of  second 
hand  clothing  was  to  set   a  nominal 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  55 

price  on  the  goods,  giving  all  a  chance 
to  do  something  for  it  in  the  way  of 
giving  a  little  labor  or  produce  in  ex- 
change, as  we  wished  to  elevate  rather 
than  pauperize  the  needy.  On  asking 
Hans  to  do  some  work  in  advance  for 
clothing,  he  refused  and  was  much  of- 
fended. Mrs.  Grundy,  being  the  only 
person  to  whom  Hans  could  go  to  for 
sympathy,  he  confided  his  grievances 
to  her,  who  so  far  had  failed  in  all  her 
malicious  efforts  to  destroy  the  influ- 
ence of  our  work.  Now  she  decided  to 
try  again,  making  the  most  of  this  new 
circumstance  to  get  the  people  out  of 
confidence  with  their  leaders.  After 
talking  with  Hans  she  felt  confident 
that  she  at  last  held  the  key  to  success, 
and  without  delay  took  up  the  question 
of  the  distribution  of  clothing  among 
the  poor,  telling  them  that  the  clothing 
which  they  had  to  buy  was  sent  there 
to  be  given  to  them  outright,  and  that 
we  were  not  only  imposing  on  them  by 


56  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

making  them  pay  for  it,  but  were  im- 
posing on  the  societies  that  sent  it. 

Mary  Ann  Jenkins  was  noted  for  her 
business  tact.  If  there  was  anything 
she  liked  better  than  to  be  highly  re- 
spected and  to  have  her  own  way,  it 
was  a  chance  to  take  advantage  of  what 
she  considered  a  real  bargain.  She 
worked  hard,  and,  having  a  large  family 
whom  she  was  anxious  to  educate,  and 
her  six  children  always  prominent  in 
the  public  school  exercises,  Easter  and 
Christmas  entertainments,  she  had  oc- 
casion to  call  at  the  clothes  room  quite 
often,  so  as  to  "fit  'em  out,"  as  she 
said.  Donning  her  best  dress — a  neat 
black  serge — she  drove  into  the  city 
with  a  mule  team  to  see  a  wealthy 
friend  on  business  whom  she  had  known 
all  her  life.  Her  friend,  taking  this  op- 
portunity to  ask  some  questions  about 
the  mission,  said :  '  '  Mary,  Mrs.  Grundy 
was  telling  me  the  other  day  that  the 
missionaries  in  your  village  are  making 
gain  of  you  poor  people,  selling  you  old 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  57 

worn-out  clothing  and  making  you  pay 
three  prices  for  it,  and  I  think  it  a 
shame  if  you  are  being  imposed  upon  in 
that  way."  Mary  Ann  had  always  con- 
sidered the  dress  she  had  on  a  most  re- 
markable bargain,  and  made  it  a  point 
to  answer  all  questions  concerning  the 
mission  by  first  telling  her  own  experi- 
ence, emphasizing  all  the  facts  about 
the  benefits  she  had  received,  and  then 
close  by  giving  her  " honest  opinion," 
with  a  bit  of  prophecy  thrown  in.  In 
answer  to  these  questions  she  said,  "I 
don't  know  how  others  trade,  nor  what 
they  git,  but  now7  that  you've  knowTed 
me  all  my  life,  I  want  ter  ask  you  if  you 
ever  seed  me  wear  a  better  dress  thin 
the  one  I've  got  on  ter  day?  I  got  it  at 
the  mission  over  a  year  ago  for  three 
heds  o'  cabbage,  and  if  that's  what  Mrs. 
Grundy  calls  "three  prices  fur  things," 
then  it'll  be  a  bright  day  fur  some  o'  us 
poor  people  when  everything  is  sold  fur 
three  prices." 

Rising,  she  stepped  in  front  of  the 


58  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

large  bay  window,  catching  up  her 
skirt  and  spreading  it  out  the  full 
length  of  her  arms  on  each  side,  so  as  to 
let  the  light  shine  full  upon  it,  thus 
giving  her  friend  a  chance  to  see  for  her- 
self the  true  value  of  the  garment  she 
prized  so  highly,  she  continued:  "I 
never  wore  anything  but  a  cotton  frock 
in  all  my  life  till  I  got  somethin'  better 
from  them  missionary  women,  an'  I'm 
agoin'  on  fifty  years  old,  an'  there's 
another  woman  down  in  our  neighbor- 
hood still  poorer  than  I  be — an'  good- 
ness knows  I  find  it  hard  enough 
scrapin'  ter  git  a  little  somethin'  ter 
eat  an'  wear — an'  she  told  me  tother 
day,  an's  been  a  tellin'  others,  too,  about 
the  good  help  she  gits  at  the  mission, 
an'  she  has  seven  children,  by  jist  send- 
in'  the  missionaries  a  quart  o'  milk  a 
day.  She  says  that  she's  about  clothed 
all  o'  them  an'  herself,  too,  fur  about 
two  years  now,  an'  she  'lowed  it  wus  a 
sight  o'  help,  too;  an'  said  they  didn't 
have  ter  shiver  round  with  the  cold  all 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  59 

winter  as  they  did  afore  them  women 
come  ter  help  us  out.  An'  it's  my 
opinion  if  Mrs.  Grundy  had  a  gone  ter 
a  mission  school  like  the  one  that  my 
children's  in  she'd  a  learned  so  many 
good  things  an'  a  got  ter  be  so  perlite 
ter  people  that  she'd  be  o 'shamed  ter 
keep  runnin'  round  the  country  a  talk- 
in'  about  her  betters.  For  if  any  one 
wants  ter  see  real  ladies,  they  can  see 
'em  at  the  mission  home  any  day,  an' 
mighty  smart  ones  at  that.  I  can  re- 
member mighty  well  when  she  used  ter 
live  in  her  log  cabin  an'  wear  her  cheap 
cotton  frocks,  an'  work  in  the  terbaccer 
field  like  the  rest  of  us — that  didn't 
have  any  chance  in  the  world.  But 
after  her  old  dad  nearly  killed  hisself  a 
drinkin'  an'  was  so  mean  that  nobody 
keered  fur  'im,  an'  he  had  ter  die  in  the 
poor  house,  then  a  preacher  tuk  pity  on 
her  an'  sent  her  ter  school  fur  a  while, 
an'  since  she  got  a  little  education  an' 
has  married  an'  old  man  with  a  war 
title  ter  his  name  an'  moved  out  o'  her 


60  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

log  cabin  inter  a  hotel,  she's  been  a 
thinkin'  ever  since  that  she  knows 
enough  ter  run  this  hul  country;  but 
the  most  of  us  are  in  favor  of  some  one 
o'  runnin'  it  as  knows  how,  an'  that's 
why  we  stand  by  them  missionary 
women;  we  b'lieve  that  they  know  how 
ter  run  this  country  better  than  anyone 
that  has  ever  run  it  before,  so  as  fur  me 
an'  mine,  we'll  be  our  own  judge  o'  the 
cloth  wTe  git  at  the  mission." 

Not  willing  to  be  thwarted  and  to 
have  her  advice  entirely  ignored  by  her 
poorer  neighbors,  Mrs.  Grundy  tries 
another  plan  to  retard  the  progress  of 
our  work.  The  missionary  societies 
having  been  successful  in  procuring 
special  freight  rates  on  the  goods  sent 
to  us,  she  writes  certain  railroad  officials 
telling  them  the  same  story  she  had 
been  telling  nearer  home,  using  her 
"war  title"  to  show  her  good  standing, 
referring  them  to  a  certain  Northern 
minister  whom  she  said  would  verify 
the  truth  of  her  statement.    Not  know- 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  61 

ing  anything  about  the  facts  in  the  case, 
the  railroad  men  who  had  been  very 
kind  to  us  were  confused  for  a  short 
time.  But  the  matter  was  so  taken  up 
by  persons  of  influence  and  standing 
that  the  railroad  companies  were  satis- 
fied with  their  explanations  and  all  wras 
well.  The  minister  in  question  once 
sought  an  opening  with  his  wife  to  work 
in  connection  with  our  mission.  He 
being  disconnected  and  out  of  harmony 
with  his  own  church  and  connected  with 
a  society  not  altogether  orthodox,  I 
moved  cautiously  in  the  matter  of  giv- 
ing him  a  place  in  our  ranks.  As  he  was 
a  good  talker  and  wTell  educated,  I  de- 
cided to  try  him  for  a  few  weeks,  he 
being  willing  to  come  at  his  own  ex- 
pense. His  career  during  the  three 
weeks  he  was  wdth  us  I  would  not  like 
to  record  here;  it  is  enough  to  say  that 
he  almost  succeeded  in  that  brief  time 
in  breaking  up  our  mission.  His  in- 
fluence was  so  hurtful  the  result  was 
confusion  among  the  workers,  confusion 


62  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

among  the  converts  and  confusion  in 
the  community  at  large.  At  the  end  of 
the  three  weeks  I  dismissed  him  from 
the  field,  gathered  up  the  fragments  of 
a  torn  up  work  and  moved  on  as  before. 

Concerning  titles,  there  are  many 
county  and  state  officials  bearing  titles 
which  would  suggest  good  education, 
popularity  and  high  social  standing, 
and  which  would  mean  much  in  more 
enlightened  places,  or  in  a  country  not 
so  far  in  the  rear  of  the  times.  But 
when  these  same  titles  are  borne  by  men 
who  have  been  born  and  raised  in  such 
districts  as  I  have  described  they 
dwindle  down  into  a  ridiculous  ab- 
surdity. 

I  was  once  driven  a  long  distance  over 
the  mountain  to  a  little  town  which  was 
a  county  seat  to  see  a  certain  county  of- 
ficial on  a  matter  of  business  pertaining 
to  the  religious  enterprise  in  which  I 
was  engaged.  On  entering  a  room 
which  had  long  been  used  by  public  men 
filling    important    offices,    thoroughly 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  63 

varnished  with  grease,  tobacco  juice 
and  ashes,  I  was  introduced  to  a  man 
who  could  not  speak  a  sentence  of  good 
English  and  to  my  great  surprise  he 
was  the  man  I  had  come  to  see. 

Six  months  had  passed  away  since 
Hans  got  offended  at  the  door  of  our 
clothes  room.  His  smaller  children 
were  still  in  school,  but  Mary,  the  old- 
est, he  kept  hard  at  work  in  the  field 
and  garden,  while  he  loafed  about  the 
depot  and  other  public  places,  talking 
about  how  he  thought  mission  work 
ought  to  be  carried  on. 

'Twas  a  cool,  frosty  morning  in  the 
early  autumn.  The  teachers  were  busy 
in  the  school  room,  while  I  sat  alone 
writing  letters  which  I  wished  to  get 
off  on  the  next  train.  Hearing  a  light 
tap  at  my  door  I  answered  it,  when  be- 
fore me  stood  a  little  girl  with  a  slight 
form,  pale  face,  large  brown  eyes,  blue 
lips,  and  a  downcast  look;  clad  in  a 
faded,  threadbare  calico  dress  which 
had  once  been  in  our  clothes  room;  bare 


64  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

footed,  wearing  a  torn  and  tattered  sun- 
bonnet  on  her  head.  She  timidly  said 
she  was  in  need  of  clothing  and  asked 
if  I  had  any  work  that  she  could  do  to 
earn  some.  It  was  little  Mary  Hans, 
just  twelve  years  of  age.  My  heart  went 
out  to  her,  speaking  as  she  did  in  her 
frank,  humble  way.  Telling  her  I  would 
try  to  find  something  she  could  do,  with 
a  grateful  look  and  with  tears  glisten- 
ing in  her  eyes,  she  said,  with  more 
courage  than  she  had  at  first  spoken: 
"I  think  you  are  very  kind  to  me,  and 
I  hope  I  can  do  a  lot  for  you.  I  know 
Pa  aint  done  right,  an'  I  feel  mighty 
sorry  about  the  way  he  has  acted,  but 
I  can  do  right,  and  I'll  keep  my  word 
and  do  my  best  ter  help  yer  all  I  can." 
She  did  do  her  best,  and  became  a  great 
blessing  to  us  in  running  errands  and 
performing  many  little  duties  about  the 
home.  After  supplying  her  with  a  num- 
ber of  suits,  among  which  was  a  nice 
fitting  blue  serge  with  blouse  waist, 
sailor  collar  and  white  braid  trimmings, 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  65 

good  stockings  and  neatly  buttoned 
shoes;  nice  ribbon  bows  for  her  thick 
black  hair,  taking  the  place  of  white 
cotton  strings  and  a  pretty  sailor  hat 
pinned  gracefully  on  her  head  taking 
the  place  of  the  disfigured  sunbonnet, 
her  looks  were  greatly  improved.  With 
the  consent  of  her  parents  I  kept  her  in 
the  mission  home  all  winter,  she  helping 
about  the  home  after  school  hours. 

Greatly  resenting  Mrs.  Grundy's  un- 
holy attacks  on  the  mission,  she  made 
the  most  of  every  opportunity  to  talk 
with  her  son  (Ben  Grundy)  about  her 
mission  blessings.  Later  she  was  con- 
verted, an  account  of  which  will  be 
given  in  another  chapter. 


66  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

CHAPTER  V 

WORKING  OUT  FEOM  HEADQUARTERS 

Rumors  had  gone  out  into  other 
districts  about  what  was  being  done  in 
the  village.  One  day  I  received  a  letter 
from  Coons  Creek,  some  twenty-five 
miles  from  the  railroad,  which  con- 
tained the  following  invitation  for  us  to 
come  there  and  hold  meetings: 

"Miss ,  August  the  seventh  day. 

We  the  people  o'  Coons  Creek  have  jist 
decided  that  you'uns  are  wanted  in 
this  'ere  settlement  to  hold  meetin's  in 
our  school  house,  as  we've  been  a  hear- 
in'  a  lot  about  the  mighty  sight  o'  good 
you'uns  are  a  doin'  in  that  part  o'  the 
country;  and  we're  a  feelin'  powerful 
anxious  about  gittin'  things  sorter 
stirred  up  here  and  the  people  started 
on  the  right  track  in  this  part  o'  the 
country,  as  we'uns  don't  have  nothin'  at 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains         67 

Coons  Creek.  Now  if  you  can  come  and 
fetch  your  helpers,  we  the  people  o' 
Coons  Creek  will  be  sure  to  give  you 
all  a  mighty  warm  welcome.  Signed  by 
reliable  and  law-abidin'  citizens.  Peter 
Blake,  Squire  Dick,  Postmaster  Crow, 
Doc  Curly,  Deputy  Sherif  Hank." 

In  company  with  three  other  mission- 
aries I  went.  Taking  with  us  a  camping 
outfit,  we  made  the  journey  in  a  lumber 
w7agon  with  two  little  mules,  driven  by 
a  mission  convert.  Reaching  there  just 
in  time  to  hear  the  first  wTeird  notes  of 
the  night  songsters — the  katydids  in 
the  apple  trees,  the  whippoorwills  in  the 
laurel  bushes,  and  the  hoarse  hooting  of 
the  owl  perched  on  the  edge  of  a  craggy 
cliff.  Driving  inside  of  the  high  rail 
fence,  we  unloaded  our  chattels  in  the 
door  yard  of  Squire  Dick's  cabin  with  a 
feeling  that  we  ought  to  write  a  letter 
home  at  once — addressed  United  States 
of  America. 

It  being  too  late  to  set  up  the  tent  that 
night,  as  we  had  forgotten  to  bring  our 


68  "Them  Missionary  yeomen" 

tent  poles  along — the  only  chance  to 
sleep  indoors  was  to  accept  the  hospi- 
tality of  Squire  Dick's  cabin,  which  con- 
sisted of  one  room.  Us  missionaries 
were  duly  assigned  one  bed  in  a  remote 
corner.  A  few  days  later  one  of  our 
party,  whose  home  was  in  a  Michigan 
city,  wrote  a  letter  to  her  mother  in 
which  she  gave  a  graphic  account  of  the 
situation  and  trials  of  the  night,  a  part 
of  which  I  quote:  "Dear  Mother,  I 
never  spent  such  a  horrible  night  in  my 
life.  We  had  traveled  all  day.  Had 
had  no  chance  to  get  cooled  off.  We  got 
in  too  late  to  have  the  use  of  our  tent. 
Had  to  sleep  in  a  log  cabin  over  night. 
There  were  eleven  in  the  room,  and  four 
of  us  in  one  forty-pound  feather  bed 
with  roaches  and  other  insects  lively. 
A  big  fire  place  with  a  roaring  fire  in 
the  middle  of  August,  and  the  night  ex- 
ceptionally warm.  Doors  closed  tight, 
and  no  windows.  My  heart  sank  within 
me  when  I  saw  them  latched  for  the 
night.     Dearest  mother,  believe  me,  I 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  69 

never  expect  to  be  so  warm  and  miser- 
able again  and  live  to  tell  you  about  it. 
I  assure  you  we  all  got  up  early  next 
morning.' ' 

The  next  day  the  men  went  to  the 
woods  and  cut  poles  for  our  tent,  and 
by  noon  it  was  up.  As  few  people  in 
that  community  had  ever  seen  one  be- 
fore, it  proved  a  good  advertisement  for 
our  meetings.  All  day  long  teamsters, 
equestrians  and  pedestrians  stopped  for 
a  short  time  as  they  chanced  to  pass 
that  way  to  look  at  our  little  cloth  taber- 
nacle with  its  red  scolloped  trimmings. 

The  meetings  in  the  log  school  house 
were  well  attended.  Soon  after  the 
opening  of  our  work,  at  the  close  of  one 
of  the  services,  a  woman  rushed  to  the 
front  to  speak  wTith  me.  Her  head  dress 
was  a  man's  old  felt  hat  with  a  majority 
of  the  rim  chopped  off  on  one  side.  She 
wore  a  short  calico  dress,  considerably 
hitched  up  in  front,  running  to  an  un- 
gainly point  in  the  back,  and  deplorably 
separated  from  the  waist  at  the  band. 


70  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

Her  shoes,  which  were  coarse  and  cov- 
ered with  mud,  were  buttoned  on  the 
wrong  side  of  her  feet  with  about  two 
buttons  near  the  neighborhood  of  her 
toes.  Manifesting  considerable  emotion 
and  great  concern  she  said,  "I  wish  my 
old  man  was  here  to  go  to  yer  meetin's! 
0!  I  do  wish  he  was  here  this  very 
minute,  fur  I  shore  feel  that  they'd  do 
'im  a  sight  o'  good!"  "  Where  is  he?"  I 
asked.  "Well,  that's  more'n  I  can  tell; 
you  see  we'uns  are  a  havin'  a  lot  o' 
trouble  in  this  'ere  settlement  off  an'  on, 
an'  two  weeks  ago  my  old  man  had  to 
git  up  an  git  cause  the  revenues  got 
after  'im  fur  makin'  whiskey.  I'd  been 
tellin'  them  that  he'd  better  let  sich 
business  alone.  If  they  ketch  'em 
that'll  mean  a  sight  o'  trouble  fer 
me.  But  he  wouldn't  listen.  And 
there's  a  lot  o'  fellers  down  here 
that  have  ter  spend  about  Half  o'  their 
time  runnin'  from  them  officers,  fer 
they're  a  huntin'  'em  down  like  rabibts 
most  o'  the  time." 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  71 

As  we  got  farther  into  this  work  and 
better  acquainted  with  the  people  and 
their  needs,  we  learned  that  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  men  in  this  locality  was  in 
some  way  connected  with  illicit  distill- 
ing. 

A  little  two-months  school  was  taught 
every  year  in  the  school  house  where  we 
held  meetings,  and  the  only  preaching 
the  people  had  listened  to  there  in  seven 
years  was  by  a  man  that  could  neither 
read  nor  write.  We  announced  a  chil- 
dren's meeting,  and  when  the  time  came 
to  open  this  service  the  children  filled 
the  house,  and  the  grown  people  filled 
the  yard.  The  little  ones  came  carrying 
old  blue-backed  spelling  books,  thinking 
they  would  need  them  in  the  meeting. 
We  taught  them  to  sing  and  to  repeat 
Scripture  texts.  We  told  them  the  story 
of  the  cross,  and  explained  to  them  the 
need  of  Sunday  schools,  and  the  kind  of 
teaching  they  would  receive  if  they  had 
the  right  kind  of  teachers.  "Well," 
said  one  woman,  "this  jist  beats  any- 


72  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

thing  we  'uns  ever  had  on  Coons  Creek  I" 
After  working  this  point  for  over  a 
month  with  good  results,  we  moved  up 
the  creek  about  three  miles,  where  the 
people  were  not  so  poor,  but  where  the 
smoke  of  the  still  houses  was  much 
thicker. 

A  presiding  elder  of  the  Methodist 
church,  who  encouraged  me  to  take  my 
assistants  and  go  into  this  district,  told 
me  that  just  prior  to  our  conversation 
about  this  place  he  preached  to  over  a 
dozen  murderers  in  jail,  all  of  whom 
came  from  this  neighborhood.  No  re- 
ligious service  had  been  held  there  for 
nearly  four  years.  The  people  received 
us  kindly,  entertaining  us  in  their 
homes,  and  announcing  our  meetings  in 
the  day  school  and  from  house  to  house. 
Here  we  found  a  large  public  building 
used  for  a  five  months  district  school 
and  Masonic  meetings.  Also  used  in 
the  past  by  many  rambling  Christian 
workers  without  learning  or  influence. 
A  number  of  rough  benches,  a  large 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  73 

stove,  warped,  lopsided  and  rusty,  with 
a  pen  built  around  it  about  six  feet 
square  and  seven  inches  deep,  full  to 
the  brim  with  ashes,  and  one  little  lamj) 
without  a  chimney  composed  the  furni- 
ture of  this  house.  The  pen  around  the 
stove  was  designed  for  a  public  spittoon 
where  men,  women  and  children  de- 
posited untold  quantities  of  tobacco 
juice  in  every  public  gathering.  This 
spittoon  was  built  with  much  care  and 
was  looked  upon  by  all  as  being  of  far 
more  importance  than  lamps  or  stove 
polish. 

In  our  first  public  meeting  all  the 
light  we  had  in  that  big,  dingy  chapel 
was  supplied  by  the  one  little  lamp, 
without  a  chimney  still,  and  one  old 
lantern  with  an  abundance  of  dirt  on 
the  outside  and  but  little  oil  on  the  in- 
side. Here  we  found  out  what  all  in- 
telligent missionaries  find  out  when 
they  go  into  isolated  pioneer  fields.  That 
the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  " pre- 
pare the  way  of  the  Lord"  by  getting  a 


74  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

place  ready  for  His  worship.  So  before 
beginning  our  work  in  a  regular  way 
we  had  a  broom,  soap,  water,  stove 
polish,  dust  rags  and  a  good  supply  of 
physical  strength  applied  to  the  inside 
of  the  building.  This  being  done,  we 
hung  up  a  number  of  Scripture  mottoes 
on  the  walls  and  new  lamps  well  filled 
with  lighting  matter.  On  the  table, 
made  out  of  some  stray  boards,  we  put 
a  neat  table  cover,  and  last  of  all  a  beau- 
tiful boquet  of  fall  flowers  was  placed 
on  the  stand  and  a  little  organ  set  in. 
The  people,  recovering  from  their  first 
paralizing  stroke  of  astonishment,  be- 
came good  listeners  to  all  we  had  to  say, 
encouraging  us  by  their  presence  and 
their  words,  and  seemed  anxious  to  help 
the  work. 

The  matter  of  finding  a  home  for  our- 
selves was  the  most  perplexing  question 
of  all.  At  first  we  used  an  old  discarded 
log  school  house  standing  beside  the 
other  building,  entirely  open  under- 
neath, the  logs  resting  on  four  piles  of 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains         75 

stones  built  up  at  each  corner  about 
four  feet  from  the  ground.  A  great  con- 
venience for  a  herd  of  sheep,  seeking 
protection  from  the  heat  of  the  sun  dur- 
ing the  day,  giving  place  to  more  than  a 
dozen  hogs  that  had  chosen  this  same 
spot  for  their  resting  place  at  night, 
making  known  to  us  by  their  hideous 
squeals  and  loud,  hostile  grunts  how 
much  they  protested  against  this  unex- 
pected intrusion  and  how  unwilling 
they  were  to  surrender  their  rights  to 
a  few  lone  missionaries  compelled  by 
circumstances  to  take  refuge  in  a  house 
utterly  abandoned  by  human  beings. 

Later  the  people  offered  us  a  half- 
finished  house  wThich  was  built  for  a 
good  dwelling,  but  then  being  used  for  a 
tobacco  barn.  This  house  wTe  accepted. 
The  tobacco  wTas  moved  out  and  the  mis- 
sionaries moved  in.  The  floors  were 
washed  and  the  walls  were  white- 
washed. A  number  of  goods  boxes, 
draped  with  speckled  calico,  we  used  for 
a  wash  stand,  dresser  and  kitchen  table. 


76  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

A  straw  mattress,  a  wooden  bedstead, 
a  few  split  bottomed  chairs,  a  small 
table  and  a  smokey  little  oil  stove — the 
only  chance  for  cooking  a  meal — com- 
posed our  housekeeping  outfit.  On  the 
walls  which  the  whitewash  so  wonder- 
fully transformed,  we  hung  a  few 
pictures  taken  from  a  Sunday  school 
wall  role  sent  to  us  by  a  city  friend.  In 
this  way  we  began  to  fight  the  King's 
battle  in  a  place  where  a  Sunday  school 
and  Christian  church  was  not  yet  in 
existence.  A  lively  Sunday  school  was 
soon  worked  up,  and  from  two  to  three 
Gospel  meetings  held  every  week,  with 
almost  no  opposition.  The  workers 
were  much  encouraged  with  the  results 
of  their  efforts,  and  the  outlook  for  a 
strong,  permanent  work  was  promising, 
when  all  at  once  the  attendance  at  these 
public  meetings  became  very  small.  It 
wTas  a  sudden,  rather  than  a  gradual  fall- 
ing away.  We  were  perplexed  and  did 
not  understand  the  situation.  We  were 
sure  that  some  false  rumor  was  afloat 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains         77 

concerning  ourselves,  for  when  we  met 
the  people  who  took  hold  well  at  first 
and  who  seemed  to  be  delighted  with  the 
work  from  the  beginning,  they  would 
now  shy  off,  giving  us  a  distrustful  and 
cross-eyed  look. 

On  attempting  to  unravel  the  mystery 
our  investigation  proved  that  the  diffi- 
culty had  originated  in  this  way:  A 
number  of  persons  living  in  the  neigh- 
borhood who  could  read  but  very  little, 
had  told  others  that  it  was  recorded  in 
history  that  Uncle  Sam  owed  England 
a  debt.  They  had  doubtless  gotten  the 
thought  of  what  England  could  do  and 
might  do  sooner  or  later  much  exagger- 
ated in  their  minds.  And  as  they  talked 
things  over  among  themselves,  they 
were  filled  with  fear  and  dread  lest 
"them  fur 'en  people,"  as  they  called 
the  English,  might  swoop  down  upon 
them  at  some  unexpected  time  and  rob 
them  of  all  their  earthly  possessions, 
especially  the  land  now  owned  by  the 
poorer  citizens  of  the  United  States. 


78  "Tlaem  Missionary  Women" 

And  it  was  through  a  conversation 
which  took  place  between  the  suspicious 
persons  which  greatly  cut  down  our 
numbers  at  the  mission. 

Ed  Scout  who  owned  more  land  in 
that  region  than  anyone  else,  called  a 
number  of  land  holders  together.  Ex- 
hibiting some  agitation  he  gave  them 
his  candid  opinion  about  the  mission- 
aries. Said  he,  "There's  somethin'  on 
my  mind  that  I  b'lieve  you'uns  all 
ought  ter  know.  I've  been  a  dreadin' 
a  sartin  kind  o'  trouble  an  expectin'  it 
fur  some  time,  an'  I've  been  a  thinkin' 
that  mebby  it's  right  here,  an'  we'uns 
don't  know  it.  You  remember  Bob 
Hurley  that  when  them  missionary 
women  first  come  here,  I  told  yer  that 
they  didn't  look  nery  bit  like  our  kind 
o'  women,  an'  the  more  I  see  of  'em,  the 
more  I  b'lieve  they're  English.  I'd  be 
willin'  to  bet  my  old  mule  with  any 
man  on  this  ground  them  women  are 
sent  here  to  meddle  with  our  land,  an' 
likely  they'll  take  it  away  from  us,  an' 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  79 

it's  time  fur  we'uns  that  owns  land  ter 
wake  up,  fur  if  that's  what  they're  here 
fur,  an'  we  don't  do  somethin',  then 
we  are  shore  ruined,  ever  one  of  us." 

"Ah!  shaw!  you  don't  need  ter  git  so 
worked  up  an  excited  over  it,"  said 
Bob.  "Do  you  think  if  England  was 
ready  ter  do  that  sort  o'  thing  that 
she'd  send  women  over  ter  look  adder 
the  business?  I  never  seed  a  woman 
yit  that  could  skeer  me." 

"Well,  I  don't  guess  you  take  the 
papers  an'  find  out  enough  about  things 
ter  git  skeered,"  said  Ed.  "You  can 
jist  b'lieve  me  or  not,  Bob,  but  I  tell 
yer  that  the  whole  state  o'  England  is 
run  by  a  woman,  and'  that's  jist  why  I 
believe  they'd  be  jist  the  ones  she'd  be 
most  likely  ter  send  over." 

"Well,"  said  Bob,  "if  that's  true, 
there  may  be  somethin'  in  it,  but  I  hope 
it'll  turn  out  all  right,  fur  goodness 
knows  we're  poor  enough  now,  without 
havin'  the  little  patch  taken  away  from 


80  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

us  that  we've  been  a  workin'  in  all  our 
lives.' ' 

' ' Boys,"  said  Lee  Smakey,  "as  we 
don't  know  how  this '11  turn  out,  an' 
bein'  they  are  women,  we  wouldn't 
want  ter  run  'em  out  unless  we  knowed 
fur  sartin'  they  wus  agin'  us,  an'  now  I 
think  that  the  best  thing  fur  us  ter  do 
now  is  just  ter  watch  'em  real  close, 
an'  you  tell  all  the  land  holders  on  your 
side  o'  the  creek,  an'  I'll  tell  all  on  my 
side,  so  as  ter  be  ready  if  anything 
happens." 

"Mebby  that's  the  best  way  ter  man- 
age it,"  said  Ed,  who  became  more 
quiet  as  soon  as  he  succeeded  in  getting 
the  others  to  fully  sympathize  with  him 
in  his  forebodings  of  evil. 

As  soon  as  we  found  out  the  truth 
this  difficulty  was  tactfully  explained 
away,  after  which  we  gathered  our  full 
number  together  again  and  went  on 
with  our  work — I  might  say,  with  more 
light  and  less  hope  than  we  had  hith- 
erto possessed. 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains         81 


CHAPTER  VI 

OUR  FIRST  CHRISTMAS  CELEBRATION  AT 
HEADQUARTERS 

We  were  told  that  in  the  past,  at 
Christmas  time,  there  had  been  much 
drinking,  shooting  and  the  roughest 
kind  of  riot  carried  on  in  this  vicinity. 
These  reports  caused  us  to  hesitate  in 
arranging  for  a  public  entertainment 
during  the  holidays.  But  after  talking 
it  over  with  the  converts  we  decided  to 
have  a  Christmas  celebration  and  make 
the  day  one  of  the  brightest  and  best 
the  people  had  ever  known.  The  chil- 
dren were  carefully  trained  in  Christ- 
mas songs,  recitations  and  various 
Scripture  exercises,  much  to  the  delight 
of  their  parents,  who  had  never  seen 
them  represented  in  any  good  thing 
before.  In  the  city  of ,  New  Jer- 
sey, other  preparations  were  going  on. 
A  little  band  of  Kings  Daughters,  com- 


82  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

posed  of  young  ladies,  were  busy  mak- 
ing work  bags  and  numerous  other 
articles  which  when  completed  were 
neatly  packed  in  a  box  with  forty 
pounds  of  delicious  candy,  and  shipped 
to  the  mission  in  time  for  it  to  reach 
its  destination  to  be  duly  distributed 
among  the  members  of  the  Sunday 
school  on  Christmas  eve. 

When  the  anticipated  day  of  pleasure 
arrived  all  eyes  were  turned  with  one 
accord  toward  the  mission  house.  The 
children  came  early  in  the  morning, 
carrying  loads  of  beautiful  ferns  and 
evergreen  to  decorate  the  chapel. 
Three  men  were  working  on  the  frame 
of  a  snow  house.  When  covered  with 
cotton  and  sprinkled  with  glistening 
mica,  a  number  of  mothers  came  to 
hang  the  decorations  and  to  do  the 
cleaning  after  all  was  finished.  The 
excitement  was  much  intensified  when 
it  was  announced  that  Joe  Grimes  had 
just  carried  the  Christmas  box  over 
from  the  depot,  and  that  the  precious 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  83 

contents  had  been  taken  upstairs  to  my 
room.  The  snow-house,  the  decorations 
and  the  cleaning  were  all  completed  by 
noon,  and  the  last  practice  was  given  to 
the  children  early  in  the  afternoon,  and 
all  went  home  filled  to  overflowing  with 
bright  thoughts  and  thrilling  expecta- 
tions of  what  they  were  going  to  enjoy 
that  evening.  For  would  they  not  see 
a  real  Santa  Claus  come  out  the  chim- 
ney of  the  snow-house?  and  would  not 
each  one  receive  some  beautiful  gift 
from  his  hand?  And  0!  what  a  big 
crowd  of  people  going  to  come  out  to 
see  him !  As  they  pondered  these  things 
in  their  minds  their  hearts  swelled 
with  delight.  They  were  so  over- 
whelmed with  joyful  anticipations  that 
it  really  did  seem  as  if  the  little  village 
had  been  suddenly  transformed  into  a 
great  big  world  of  brightness  and 
pleasure. 

The  entertainment  began  early  in  the 
evening,  and  after  the  seats  were  all 
filled  the  standing  room  was  soon  taken 


84  "Them  Missionary  Women' 

and  many  could  not  get  inside  at  all, 
the  crowd  was  so  great.  The  order  was 
all  that  we  could  desire,  and  not  one 
child  failed  to  perform  their  part  well; 
more  than  meeting  the  expectations  of 
their  teachers  and  greatly  pleasing  the 
people  who  listened  attentively  to  the 
exercises.  When  the  gifts  were  dis- 
tributed by  the  teachers,  who  received 
them  from  old  Santa,  as  he  handed  them 
down  from  the  chimney  of  the  snow- 
house  which  concealed  one-half  of  his 
body — with  the  dolls,  workbags,  pocket 
handkerchiefs  and  other  things,  a  beau- 
tiful red  box  with  a  picture  of  Santa 
Claus  printed  on  the  side,  filled  with 
nice  candy  was  given  to  each  one. 

Everything  went  off  so  quietly  and 
nice  and  on  hearing  so  many  expres- 
sions of  gratitude  from  the  parents, 
and  all  seeming  to  be  helped  and 
cheered,  we  felt  enough  encouraged  to 
announce  a  watch  night  service  for  New 
Year's  eve.  This,  too,  was  something 
new,  no  meeting  of  the  kind  ever  having 


Work  in  the  Soul  hern  Mountains  85 

been  held  in  this  place  before.  In  this 
service  one  hour  and  a  half  was  set 
apart  for  testimony.  We  called  it  a 
"When  and  Where  meeting,"  asking 
all  the  Christians  to  tell  as  near  as  they 
could  remember,  just  when  and  where 
they  were  converted.  A  more  interest- 
ing exercise  I  never  attended.  The 
people  entered  into  it  with  earnestness 
and  fervor.  The  first  to  speak  was 
Willis  Brown: 

"I  didn't  come  to  the  first  mission 
meetin'  fur  any  good.  But  after  the 
Holy  Sperit  got  hold  o'  me,  I  begun  ter 
feel  mighty  bad,  and  after  I'd  axed  fur 
prayers,  Miss  Bright  gave  me  a  little 
tract  that  made  the  way  mighty  plain. 
And  as  I  wus  a  walkin'  home  all  alone, 
I  wus  so  anxious  ter  know  what  wus  in 
that  tract  that  I  tuk  it  out  'er  see  if  I 
could  see  it  in  the  moonshine,  an'  seein' 
I  could  read  it,  I  begun  ter  spell  it  out, 
fur  I  couldn't  read  very  good,  but  I 
got  enough  of  the  Bible  part  of  it  ter 
make  me  feel  it  wus  fur  me,  an'  I  jist 


86  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

got  right  down  there  by  the  side  o'  the 
road  an'  prayed,  an'  I  know  I  wus  eon- 
verted  an'  my  sins  wus  forgiven." 

The  next  was  Joe  Grimes : 

"I'd  been  pinted  ter  light  up  the 
meetin'  house  ever  night,  an'  the  next 
night  after  they  begun  ter  pray  fur 
me,  I  come  over  ter  clean  the  church  an' 
ter  light  up.  But  no  man  livin'  ever 
felt  meaner  than  I  did  that  evenin'. 
An  somethin'  seemed  ter  say  ter  me, 
'  Joe,  this  is  a  good  time  fur  you  ter 
begin  ter  pray!'  So  I  got  down  an' 
went  at  it,  an'  shore  as  I  live,  the  Lord 
jist  cleaned  up  my  old  heart,  an'  I 
knowed  He'd  done  it  His  sef,  an'  after 
I  wus  lit  up  with  His  divine  love,  I 
found  it  mighty  easy  ter  light  them 
lamps,  an'  they  never  did  look  so  bright 
ter  me  before." 

Little  Daisy  Dump  then  testified: 

"There  is  one  place  on  earth  that  I 
love  better  than  any  other,  cause  God 
converted  me  there.  It  wus  jist  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  our  house,  be- 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  87 

hind  Pa's  old  tobacco  barn.  Sometimes 
I  git  discouraged,  an'  when  I  do  I  go 
there  an'  tell  Jesus  all  about  it  an'  then 
He  helps  me  an'  I  feel  better.' ' 

Little  Mary  Hans  said:  "I  wanted 
ter  be  converted  a  long  time  before  I 
wus.  An'  one  night  I  got  so  stirred  up 
in  the  meetin's  I  couldn't  sleep,  an'  the 
leader  said  fur  all  that  wanted  ter  be 
saved  ter  go  home  an'  begin  ter  pray  at 
home,  an'  it  was  a  busy  time  with  us 
an'  Pa  sent  me  to  the  field  real  early 
ter  hoe  corn;  an'  I  was  a  feelin'  so  bad 
I  jist  longed  ter  pray,  an'  I  didn't 
b'lieve  the  Lord  would  hear  me  unless 
I  got  down  on  my  knees,  so  I  knelt 
down  an'  begun  ter  pray  an'  hoe,  an'  I 
jist  went  through  one  row  after  another 
— a  prayin'  an'  a  hoein',  an'  I  feel  that 
Jesus  heard  me  an'  made  me  His 
child." 

" Uncle  Billy  Bowser,"  as  he  was 
called  by  his  neighbors,  was  the  oldest 
member  of  our  mission.  Being  greatly 
blessed    in    the    meetings,    his    broad 


88  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

features,  though  naturally  homely,  be- 
came attractive,  because  of  the  light 
which  constantly  shined  out  of  his  gray 
bearded  face.  He  had  received  a  little 
spiritual  life  years  before  our  mission 
was  opened,  and  delighted  in  telling  his 
experience.  As  he  had  had  a  very  un- 
satisfactory church  history,  he  thought 
this  a  favorable  time  to  speak  of  his 
conversion  and  also  his  church  trials, 
which  had  almost  beset  him  a  number 
of  times.  Said  he:  "I  can't  jist  re- 
member when  I  wus  converted,  it's 
been  so  long  ago.  But  it  wus  in  a  log 
school  house,  an'  after  I  perfessed  re- 
ligion, I  didn't  git  the  kind  o'  teachin' 
we  are  a  gitten'  here — not  by  a  long 
sight!  But  I  did  the  best  I  knowed 
how,  an'  jined  the  Methodist  church 
right  away,  an'  went  along  with  the 
rest  o'  them — kinder  slow  like — an' 
we  had  a  purty  good  preacher  then, 
too;  but  he  couldn't  preach  fur  us  but 
once  a  month,  an'  that  wus  more'n  we 
could  pay   'im  fur,  an'  the  devil  he 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  89 

didn't  git  a  bit  skeered  at  that  kind  o' 
work  as  long  as  he  had  the  ground  all 
ter  his-sef  the  rest  o'  the  time;  an'  all 
at  once  he  jist  walked  inter  that  meetin' 
house  an'  didn't  back  down  a  inch  till 
he'd  got  ever  member  o'  that  church, 
a  findin'  fault  with  some  other  member, 
an'  the  first  thing  I  knowed,  an'  before 
the  parson  could  fill  another  appoint- 
ment, that  church  wus  busted  all  ter 
pieces,  an'  the  class  book  wus  taken 
away  an'  hit  aint  been  found  ter  this 
day.  Hit  did  make  me  feel  so  lone- 
some like  that  I  didn't  know  what  ter 
do.  Then  after  a  spell  I  went  an'  jined 
the  Baptist,  an'  they  made  me  the 
chaplin  o'  their  Sunday  school.  I 
stayed  with  them  fur  some  years,  an' 
then  the  Methodist  church  started  up 
agin'  an'  that  made  the  Baptist  kinder 
jealous  like,  an'  they  begun  ter  fight 
an'  thrash  the  Methodist  wusser  thin 
the  Methodist  had  fit  each  other.  I 
saw  this  wus  all  wrong,  an'  bein'  I  wus 
more  of  a  Methodist  thin  a  Baptist  any- 


90  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

way,  I  went  back  an'  jined  the  Method- 
ist agin.  Fur  I  thought  I  would  ruther 
git  licked  thin  ter  be  on  the  side  that 
wus  doin'  so  much  fightin'.  But  the 
Methodist  wusn't  a  doin'  much  good, 
an'  as  soon  as  the  missionaries  came, 
after  I'd  jined  them  again,  thin  they 
begun  ter  find  fault  with  them  fur 
startin'  a  union  Sunday  school,  an' 
there  wus  jist  five  Methodist  members 
in  all,  an'  most  o'  them  not  a  livin' 
right,  an'  ever  time  I  said  anything 
about  the  good  that  wus  a  bein'  done 
by  them  women,  it  seemed  ter  rile  'em 
up  powerful,  an'  they  begun  ter  say 
hard  things  about  the  mission  work  ter 
me,  so  I  jist  went  on  an'  let  'em  tare  as 
they  pleased,  an'  I  begun  ter  ax  the 
Lord  what  wus  ter  become  of  a  old  man 
like  me  that  had  been  a  huntin'  all  his 
life  fur  a  quiet,  peacible  place  ter  wor- 
ship Him  in  an'  couldn't  find  it.  An' 
I  know  that  He  wanted  me  ter  keep  a 
goin'  ter  the  mission,  fur  He  jist  kept 
a  blessin'  me  ever  time  I  went  more  an' 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  91 

more,  an'  hit  made  me  feel  so  good  ter 
find  a  place  where  the  leaders  all  talked 
about  the  infillm'  o'  the  blessed  Holy 
Sperit  that  makes  Christians  happy  an' 
gives  'em  love  one  fur  another,  that  I 
just  said  ter  the  Lord  that  I  wanted 
ter  worship  an'  live  an'  die  right  in  this 
mission,  'cause  hit  is  the  only  place  I 
ever  found  yit  where  folks  show  love 
one  for  another." 

Tom  Ruggles  rose  and  said:  "I 
thank  God  that  He  let  me  live  long 
enough  ter  find  out  the  difference 
'tween  jinin'  the  church  and  jinm'  the 
Lord.  I'd  been  a  member  o'  the 
Baptist  church  ever  since  I  wus  a  young 
man,  an'  some  folks  called  me  a 
Christian  'cause  I  had  been  baptized  an' 
taken  in  the  reglar  way.  But  I  soon 
found  out  that  I  didn't  git  anything  in 
that  big  meetin'  where  I  first  perfessed 
religion  that  made  me  live  better 'n  I 
lived  before.  The  kind  I  got  didn't 
take  the  swear  out  o'  me,  an'  it  didn't 
tone  down  my  bad  temper  nery  a  bit; 


92  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

I  could  git  fightin'  mad  at  nothin'  an' 
stay  mad  fur  a  whole  week  at  a  stretch. 
But  after  the  missionaries  explained 
ter  me  the  difference  'tween  perfessin' 
an'  possessin'  I  tuk  ter  the  kind  that 
makes  a  man  feel  as  if  he'd  got  some- 
thin'  fur  shore,  that  'ould  stay  by  'im 
an'  be  a  help  ter  'im  in  livin'  right  in 
this  world  and  makes  'im  shore  of  some- 
thin'  better  in  the  next." 

Others  spoke  in  the  same  interesting 
manner,  out  of  a  full  heart  of  praise  to 
God  for  the  many  blessings  of  the  past 
year,  and  the  light  which  they  had  re- 
ceived through  the  teaching  of  His 
blessed  word. 

The  clock  pointed  to  the  hour  of 
twelve,  when  all  joined  in  a  hearty 
handshake  before  starting  for  home. 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        93 


CHAPTER  Vn 

MISSION  CONVERTS  MAKE  COMPARISONS. 

'Twas  about  three  years  since  the 
opening  of  our  work,  and  the  converts 
had  all  been  faithful.  Their  deep  regard 
for  the  truth,  their  love  for  one  another, 
their  prompt  attendance  at  the  house  of 
worship  through  all  kinds  of  weather, 
and  their  loyalty  to  their  leaders  gave 
us  great  strength  and  joy.  They  often 
spoke  of  the  marvelous  change  which 
had  been  wrought  in  their  own  hearts 
and  homes,  as  well  as  in  the  community 
at  large.  And  though  their  apprecia- 
tion was  expressed  in  the  language  of 
the  unlearned,  their  discussions  proved 
that  the  truths  taught  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures  had  become  deeply  rooted 
in  their  hearts  and  lives,  enabling  them 
to  discern  clearly  between  good  and 
evil. 


94  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

It  was  Sunday  afternoon  and  more 
than  the  usual  interest  had  been  taken 
in  the  lesson  taught  in  my  Bible  class 
of  adults.  In  this  class  I  now  had  en- 
rolled forty-nine  men  and  women,  the 
majority  of  whom  were  converted  in 
our  first  meetings.  The  service  had 
come  to  a  close  and  nearly  all  had  left 
the  building  when  a  number  of  the  class 
sat  down  on  the  chapel  steps  entering 
into  conversation  concerning  the  lesson 
taught  and  the  reform  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  village. 

Among  them  was  Willis  Brown, 
Aunty  Brown's  son,  who  had  become  a 
faithful  worker  and  was  now  loved  and 
respected  by  all  who  knew  him.  Before 
his  conversion  he  was  considered  one  of 
the  roughest  and  most  dangerous  char- 
acters in  the  neighborhood.  With  a  re- 
volver in  his  boot  and  one  in  his  belt, 
a  quid  of  tobacco  in  his  mouth,  a  bottle 
of  whiskey  in  his  pocket,  his  coat  slung 
over  his  arm,  his  sleeves  rolled  up 
nearly  to  his  elbows  and  with  a  look  of 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  95 

defiance  in  his  eye  he  walked  into  the 
church  and  sat  down  in  our  first  Gospel 
meeting.  But  now  he  is  changed.  On 
opening  the  following  discussion  with 
Barney  Smith,  his  face  lit  up  with 
gratitude  and  he  spoke  with  great  feel- 
ing. "Barney,"  said  he,  "I've  been  a 
thinkin'  about  the  difference  in  the 
teachin'  we're  a  gittin'  here  an'  the 
kind  o'  wild  shootin'  we've  been 
brought  up  on  all  our  lives.  I'd  al'ays 
heard  about  salvation,  but  sich  a  man 
as  Umbrey  couldn't  once  tell  a  feller 
what  it  wus  or  how  ter  git  it.  I've 
hearn  'im  talk  about  jinin'  the  church 
an'  gittin'  baptised  till  I  wus  shore  sick 
an'  tired  o'  the  hull  thing,  fur  he  talks 
jist  as  if  that  wus  all  there  is  ter  be 
done,  but  I've  found  out  since  we've 
been  a  havin'  the  right  kind  o'  teachin' 
that  jining'  the  church  an'  gittin'  bap- 
tised is  one  thing,  an'  livin'  a  decent  life 
an'  havin'  a  change  o'  heart  is  quite 
another.  If  any  one  had  a  made  it  as 
plain  ter  me  as  them  women  did  right 


96  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

on  the  start,  I'd  a  got  converted  long 
ago,  an'  I  wouldn't  a  waited  till  I'd 
wasted  most  o'  my  life  a  tearin'  round 
the  country  like  a  wild  buffalo,  an'  it's 
all  because  o'  the  lack  of  the  right  kind 
o'  teachin'." 

" That's  jist  so,  Willis — a  big  change 
has  tuk  place  here,  an'  we  cant  tell 
where  it'll  end.  Do  you  remember  the 
last  meetin'  that  wus  held  in  that  old 
church  before  the  missionaries  began 
ter  preach  in  it?  an'  how  some  o'  us 
fellers  carried  on  one  night  at  Christ- 
mas time  ?  Jist  think  of  it,  twenty-five 
of  us  fellers,  dead  drunk  an'  a  swearin' 
till  we  made  the  preacher's  head  swim, 
an'  then  wound  up  with  a  big  old 
Christmas  fight,  an'  run  the  parson 
clear  out  o'  town.  An'  that  Christmas 
I  remember  that  we  fellers  helped  ter 
ship  over  sixty  kegs  o'  liquor  ter  this 
station,  an'  the  most  of  it  wus  used  in 
this  'ere  very  settlement,  an'  sich  shoot- 
in'  an'  yellin'  as  we  had  around  here 
fur  a  hull  week  wus  enough  ter  run  any 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  97 

decent  man  or  woman  crazy;  but  next 
Christmas  there  wus  jist  four  kegs  o' 
liquor  shipped  in  here  an'  hit  wus  taken 
to  another  settlement,  an'  most  o'  it 
used  there  I  guess,  fur  I  didn't  see  any 
drinkin'  ter  speak  of  in  this  place.  An' 
the  night  we  all  went  ter  watch  meetin' 
the  only  noise  that  wus  heard  after 
dark  wus  the  people  o'  singin'  hymns 
an'  a  praisin'  God  fur  savin'  their  souls. 
An'  even  some  that  don't  take  much 
ter  the  mission  work  couldn't  help  say- 
in'  that  the  change  wus  wonderful;  an' 
jist  beat  anything  that  they  ever  seed 
in  all  their  life.  Why,  old  Tom  Harvey 
hasn't  drunk  a  drop  now  a  goin'  on  four 
months,  an'  he  aint  converted  either! 
but  he  says  that  since  everything  has 
got  so  quiet  round  here  that  he's 
ashamed  ter  drink  an'  carry  on  as  he 
used  ter  do.  An'  did  you  ever  see  any- 
thing like  the  way  Dan  Ruggles  sticks 
ter  the  right?  He  says  that  the  salva- 
tion he  got  in  the  mission  is  the  only 
thing  he  ever  had  that  wus  worth  a 


98  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

copper.  An'  he  got  in  jist  in  time  ter 
keep  from  killin'  his  daughter,  too,  fur 
he  told  me  since  he's  been  converted 
that  he  wus  so  mad  at  her  that  he 
couldn't  keep  from  plannin'  it.  One 
day  when  old  Mrs.  Grundy  was  a  sayin' 
somethin'  agin'  the  missionaries  ter 
Mrs.  Ruggles,  she  jist  up  an'  told  her 
pint  blank  what  she  thought  o'  them — 
she  says  ter  Mrs.  Grundy,  "I  love  them 
missionary  women  better  thin  any  one 
in  this  hull  world,  fur  since  they  have 
taught  us  how  ter  live  right  an'  are  a 
trainin'  our  children  as  they've  never 
been  trained  before,  an'  since  my  old 
man  an'  me,  an'  my  two  gals  have  all 
been  converted;  we  now  have  love  in 
our  home;  an'  we  used  ter  do  nothin' 
but  fuss  an'  fight;  an'  now  we  sing  an' 
pray  in  our  home,  yes,  we  sing  them 
sweet  songs  that  they  sing,  an'  that  I'll 
never  forgit  till  my  dyin'  day.  An' 
Dan  Ruggles  has  walked  five  miles  ter 
the  mission  meetin's  an'  has  'tended 
nigh  on  ter  two  hundred  a  year,  an'  it's 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains         99 

meant  a  sight  o'  walkin'  fur  a  hard 
workin'  man.  But  he  'lows  that  he  en- 
joys 'em  so  much,  it  jist  rests  'im  ter 
come;  so  he  hain't  missed  but  two 
meetin's  now  in  over  three  years. 

"I  remember  'bout  that  Barney:  an' 
there's  been  a  mighty  big  change  in 
Simon,  the  miller,  too,  since  he  got 
stirred  up  in  the  meetin's  an'  started  on 
the  right  track.  His  wife  thought  it 
would  be  a  sight  o'  help  to  'em  ter  have 
family  prayers,  an'  none  of  'em  could 
read  much,  so  she  spells  out  a  chapter 
in  the  Bible  ever'  day,  an'  gits  it  so  she 
kin  read  it  to  the  rest  o'  them  at  night; 
an'  she  'lows  it  is  a  sight  o'  help  to  'em, 
too,  ter  git  a  little  o'  the  Bible  in  that 
ways.  But  now  that  their  children  are 
all  in  the  Mission  school,  it  won't  be 
long  till  they  kin  read  with  the  best  o' 
them!  We  all  be  mighty  poor  readers 
'round  here,  an'  we  have  ter  do  a  lot  o' 
practisin'  on  our  Sunday  School  lesson 
during  the  week  ter  git  it  so  that  we're 
able  ter  read  it  together  on  Sunday;  but 


100  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

we're  doin'  better  on  that  line  since 
Miss  Graves  tuk  it  on  herself  ter  start 
a  readin'  class  fur  us  older  ones,  that 
can't  go  ter  school  any  more.  I  never 
got  sich  a  drill  in  readin'  in  all  my  life, 
as  she  give  us  t'other  night;  an'  it  sorter 
makes  a  feller  feel  as  if  there  wus  some 
chance  fur  'em  yit,  if  he  can't  go  ter 
school  an'  learn  in  a  reg'lar  way.  I 
don't  guess  Miss  Graves  ever  got  holt 
o'  sich  a  big  class  o'  dumb  skulls  afore 
in  all  her  life,  but  she  jist  works  away 
with  us  as  if  she  enjoys  it;  an'  she  says 
that  we're  all  improvin'  a  lot  an'  she 
kin  see  it.  If  such  women  had  'a'  come 
here  when  we  wus  all  small  boys,  we 
might  a  knowed  somethin'  now,  but  we 
kin  stand  by  them  as  has  come  ter  do 
good;  and  the  little  children  o'  our 
neighborhood  will  have  a  better  chance 
ter  learn  somethin'  an'  be  somethin'  in 
the  world  than  wre'uns  ever  had." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  SOLDIER  BOY  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES 

In  calling  the  attention  of  the  people 
to  a  certain  poor  widow,  our  Saviour 
declared  that  she  had  outstripped  them 
all  in  the  matter  of  giving  to  a  good 
cause. 

Living  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  in  an 
old  shanty,  a  short  distance  from  the 
mission,  unappreciated,  and  unknown, 
was  a  poor  mountain  widow,  wno,  in 
the  matter  of  giving  to  her  country's 
cause,  stands  first  among  all  the  women 
in  the  land. 

Though  seldom  seen  away  from 
home,  one  morning  at  an  early  hour 
she  surprised  me  by  rapping  at 
my  back  door.  With  tears  in  her 
eyes  she  wished  to  speak  with  me 
alone.  Said  she:  "I  am  in  great 
trouble    and    I    thought    mebby    you 


102  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

could  help  me  out.  It  hurts  me  to  tell 
you  how  poor  I  am,  but  you  know  my 
baby  boy  has  gone  away  to  the  Spanish 
Philippine  war  an'  I  have  just  received 
his  first  letter  home,  an'  I  want  to  write 
him  a  letter  before  he  moves  on  to  the 
next  place.  I  laid  awake  all  night  tryin' 
to  think  how  I  could  get  some  money  to 
buy  a  postage  stamp,  an'  this  mornin' 
I  found  six  fresh  eggs,  an'  I  thought 
mebby  you  could  give  me  a  little  money 
for  the  eggs;  if  so,  it  'ill  make  me  so 
happy,  for  then  I  can  write  my  boy 
right  away. "  "  Oh ! "  said  she,  bursting 
into  a  flood  of  tears,  "war  is  awful! 
I've  suffered  more'n  the  most  o'  women 
on  account  o'  war.  My  grandfather 
wus  killed  in  the  revolution;  my  father 
wus  killed  in  the  Mexican  war;  an'  my 
husband  wus  killed  in  the  civil  war;  an' 
my  brother  had  one  arm  shot  off  a 
fightin'  for  the  union;  but  all  o'  this  wus 
not  so  hard  as  to  see  my  two  boys  go 
away  to  the  Philippines,  though  I  wus 
willin'  for  the  oldest  one  to  go,  if  the 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        103 

country  needed  him,  if  I  could  only  have 
kept  my  baby."  The  candor  and  gen- 
tleness of  her  manner,  the  beauty  and 
depth  of  her  mother  love,  and  what  she 
had  really  suffered  for  her  country's 
sake,  stirred  my  heart  with  reverence, 
and  caused  me  to  feel  that  she  was 
worthy  of  being  carried  to  Washington, 
D.  C,  in  a  special  car,  the  stars  and 
stripes  floated  at  full  mast  in  honor  of 
her  coming,  and  then  pensioned  for  life, 
instead  of  losing  sleep  over  the  need  of 
a  postage  stamp  to  send  a  letter  to  her 
soldier  boy  away  in  the  Philippines. 

A  year  later,  on  calling  at  her  home, 
after  being  absent  from  the  mission  for 
a  few  days,  to  see  her  boy  who  had 
safely  returned  from  the  war,  on  enter- 
ing the  door,  she  exclaimed:  "I 
knowTed  you  wus  home  again.  I  am  old 
and  have  to  go  to  bed  early,  but  every 
night  the  last  thing  I  do  is  to  step  out- 
side for  a  minute  to  see  if  the  light  is 
burnin'  in  the  mission;  an'  if  I  see  it 
burnin',  then  I  lie  down  happy,  for  the 


104  "Them  Missionary  Women' 

light  tells  me  that  you  are  there. ' '  The 
great  truth  embodied  in  the  foregoing 
incidents  are  better  explained  in  the 
wise  sayings  of  Charles  Keade:  "Not 
a  day  passes  over  the  earth  but  men 
and  women  of  no  note  do  great  deeds, 
speak  great  words,  and  suffer  noble 
sorrows.  Of  these  obscure  heroes,  phi- 
losophers and  martyrs,  the  greater  part 
will  never  be  known  till  that  hour  when 
many  that  were  great  shall  be  small, 
and  the  small  great." 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        105 


CHAPTER  IX 

A  CHEERFUL  GIVER 

Our  temporary  chapel  being  ready 
for  seating,  lumber  was  purchased  from 
a  yard  nearby,  a  carpenter  taking 
charge  of  the  work,  assisted  by  a  num- 
ber of  the  converts.  Never  having 
worked  among  the  colored  people  at 
any  time,  and  not  wishing  to  engage  in 
both  lines  of  work — the  colored  and  the 
white — and  with  my  hands  and  mind 
fully  occupied,  I  had  failed  to  give  any 
attention  whatever  to  a  thrifty  class  of 
colored  people  located  a  short  distance 
from  our  headquarters  until  my  interest 
was  aroused  in  one  particular  family  on 
account  of  the  unselfish  interest  mani- 
fested by  them  in  the  work  wTe  were 
doing. 

The  head  of  this  family  wTas  a  strong, 
finely  built  old  man,  more  than  six  feet 


106  ''Them  Missionary  Women" 

in  height,  quiet  in  manner,  with  a  soft, 
pleasant  voice,  an  intelligent  face,  and 
a  heart  as  warm  and  true  as  could  be 
found  among  the  best  of  men.  He  was 
a  Christian,  and  worked  on  the  lumber 
yard.  When  my  first  order  was  sent  in 
for  lumber,  without  being  solicited  by 
anyone,  more  than  a  hundred  feet  was 
sent  over  as  his  donation,  saying:  "He 
wanted  to  be  the  first  to  give  something 
toward  getting  the  house  seated." 

Feeling  keenly  the  injustice  of  his 
being  barred  from  all  our  services  be- 
cause of  his  color  and  the  inconsistent 
and  hostile  spirit  manifested  by  Mrs. 
Grundy  and  her  set  concerning  the 
"Nigger's  place' '  in  religious  meetings 
— seriously  objecting  to  colored  persons 
sitting  down  in  any  kind  of  a  meeting 
conducted  for  white  people — notwith- 
standing, she  and  her  friends  fre- 
quently attended  meetings  held  in  col- 
ored churches  conducted  by  colored 
men,  and,  knowing  how  poor  Uncle 
Hez  was  and  how  he  longed  to  hear  us 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        107 

teach,  I  ventured  to  talk  with  him  about 
it.  " Uncle  Hez,"  said  I,  "your  gift 
was  very  much  appreciated  by  me,  but 
it  does  not  seem  right  for  you  to  make 
donations  to  help  along  this  work  and 
then  be  prohibited  from  getting  any 
benefit  from  it;  as  the  patrons  of  our 
mission  are  the  sensible  class  in  the 
community,  and  all  your  friends,  if  you 
feel  like  coming  to  our  meetings,  I  will 
see  to  it  that  one  seat  is  always  re- 
served for  you  in  the  chapel.  I  think 
no  harm  can  come  of  it,  and  I  am  will- 
ing to  take  all  the  responsibility. 

"Law,  chile,"  said  he,  "you  dun 'no 
what  you  say  in'  now.  I  know  e-v-e-r 
missionary  dat  you  brought  here ;  I  seed 
de  fust  one  git  off  de  train,  an'  I  know 
e-v-e-r  time  one  goes  away.  When  da 
come  my  old  heart  al'ays  feel  so  glad, 
an'  when  da  goes  away  my  heart  is  so 
sad,  'cause  I  al'ays  b'lieved  de  Lo'd 
sent  'em.  I'd  like  more 'en  any  thing 
to  hear  dem  missionary  women  teach, 
but,  law,  chile,  I  don'  want  ter  be  de  one 


108  "Them  Missionary  Women' 

dat  'ud  cause  you  good  people  a  lot  o' 
trouble;  you  couldn't  hire  me  to  come. 
Don'  you  worry  'bout  what  Uncle  Hez 
gives;  de  Lo'd  'ill  pay  him.  I  never 
give  anything  to  you'uns  noway.  I 
give  it  to  de  Lo'd." 

When  a  new  chapel  was  erected  later 
Uncle  Hez  again  availed  himself  of  the 
privilege  of  being  the  first  to  donate  a 
nice  load  of  lumber. 

After  six  years  of  service  in  that  lo- 
cality, the  time  came  when  it  was 
known  that  my  labours  there  must 
cease.  In  the  midst  of  much  sad  dem- 
onstration, while  waiting  at  the  rail- 
road station  for  the  train,  with  a  mis- 
sionary teacher  by  my  side,  fathers, 
mothers,  young  people  and  little  chil- 
dren, all  weeping,  gathered  around  to 
say  good-bye. 

At  a  distance,  with  arms  folded  and 
head  bowed,  all  alone,  stood  Uncle  Hez, 
looking  quietly  on,  but  never  venturing 
to  intrude.  Walking  over  to  where  he 
was,  Miss  Graves  and  I  said:    " Uncle 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        109 

Hez,  do  you  think  that  we  could  leave 
here  without  saying  good-bye  to  you?" 
A  light  born  of  gratitude  broke  over  his 
countenance  like  sunshine  breaking 
through  a  cloud.  Every  muscle  of  his 
black  face  twitched  with  emotion;  his 
lips  quivered,  and  with  his  kind  old 
eyes  swimming  in  tears,  he  shook  hands 
warmly,  but  said  not  a  word. 

On  another  occasion,  a  number  of 
men  coming  to  a  ford  in  the  river,  much 
swollen  on  account  of  the  recent  rains, 
tarried  all  night  in  a  hotel  near  by  to 
await  the  low  tide. 

In  the  morning,  the  tide  still  being 
high,  a  white  man  ventured  in  and  was 
soon  carried  down  over  the  rapids. 
Clinging  to  a  bush,  he  cried  for  help. 
The  entire  white  crowd  wras  much  ex- 
cited, but  not  one  came  to  the  rescue. 
Just  at  this  time  Uncle  Hez  chanced  to 
come  along,  and  seeing  the  situation, 
his  heavy  coat  and  coarse  shoes  were 
quickly  discarded,  and  he  plunged  in, 
swimming  down  to  where  the  drowning 


110  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

man  was,  and  reaching  him  just  as  he 
was  sinking  for  the  last  time,  he  carried 
him  safely  to  the  shore. 

When  the  rescued  man  was  suffi- 
ciently recovered  to  speak,  he  threw  his 
arms  around  the  old  colored  man's  neck 
and  said:  "You  are  the  whitest  man  in 
this  crowd."  No  Carnegie  hero  medal 
was  pinned  on  the  coat  of  this  brave 
old  man.  No  purse  with  a  few  extra 
coins  was  placed  in  his  hands  as  a  re- 
ward for  his  heroic  deed.  No  news- 
paper notice  was  ever  published  ap- 
plauding him  for  his  noble  act  in  giving 
all  of  his  physical  strength,  at  the  risk 
of  his  own  life,  to  rescue  a  man  from 
death.  But  the  great  and  loving  Euler 
of  the  Universe,  pledged  to  mete  out 
justice  to  all  men  of  all  nations,  will 
surely  reward  him  according  to  his 
work. 

My  experience  with  the  colored  peo- 
ple being  somewhat  limited,  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  elaborate  on  the  race  ques- 
tion; but  a  few  facts  from  which  I 


Work  in   the  Southern  Mountains        111 

learned  some  helpful  lessons  may  be 
worthy  of  mention  here. 

In  all  places  where  I  lived  and 
labored  while  in  the  southern  mission 
field,  the  hostile  spirit  exhibited  by  Mrs. 
Grundy  toward  the  Negro  was  the  ex- 
ception, and  not  the  rule. 

The  liberal,  helpful  spirit  shown  for 
the  colored  race;  the  interest  taken  in 
their  education  and  evangelization  by 
the  more  advanced  class  of  southern 
Christians,  greatly  surprised  and 
pleased  me. 

The  propriety  of  the  colored  people 
having  their  own  churches  and  schools, 
where  there  is  a  sufficient  number  to 
justify  it,  is  not  to  be  questioned,  as  it 
seems  to  be  the  best  way  to  make  them 
self  reliant  and  happy.  But  for  anyone 
who  bears  the  name  of  Christian  to  try 
to  withhold  from  them  anything  that 
would  elevate  them  in  character,  or 
bring  them  in  touch  with  that  which  is 
good  and  holy,  is  unworthy  of  being 


112  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

called  a  disciple  of  Christ,  who  died  to 
save  all  men. 

In  one  of  Bishop  Taylor's  missions  in 
Africa  a  large  number  of  African  boys, 
whose  principal  diet  had  been  angle- 
worms and  beetle  soup,  was  placed  in  a 
Christian  school,  where  those  highly 
prized  dishes  immediately  gave  place  to 
the  more  civilized  American  food.  Soon 
all  sickened,  and  some  died;  when  it  was 
found  out  that  the  change  of  diet  was 
too  great  and  too  sudden  to  be  properly 
digested.  So,  with  some  would  be  re- 
formers who  have  come  south,  they 
soon  learned  that  their  own  ideas  along 
the  line  of  race  reform  were  so  variant 
from  the  minds  of  those  whom  they 
sought  to  elevate  and  help  that  they 
made  but  little  progress,  finding  out 
with  sorrow  and  disappointment  that 
education  and  customs  can  not  always 
be  suddenly  changed  without  disaster 
to  their  well  meaning  efforts. 

A  woman  from  one  of  the  eastern 
states  with  more  sentiment  than  sense 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        113 

on  the  race  question,  came  south,  locat- 
ing a  few  hours'  ride  from  my  mission. 
Fully  determined  to  be  an  example  for 
the  people  around  her  in  giving  the 
Negro  better  treatment  than  they  had 
hitherto  known,  believing  that  in  this 
way  she  would  be  able  to  start  a  reform 
which  would  result  in  much  good  in  the 
way  of  elevating  them  in  commercial 
and  social  life,  selected  a  young  colored 
girl,  on  whom  she  thought  it  wise  to 
practice  her  sentimental  ideas  of  justice 
to  the  dusky  race.  The  girl  was  work- 
ing in  a  southern  home,  very  happy  and 
contented,  though  receiving  but  one 
dollar  per  week  for  her  services.  "The 
Yankee  woman,"  as  they  called  her, 
offered  the  girl  two  dollars  and  a  half 
if  she  would  give  up  her  place  and  come 
live  with  her.  The  girl,  thinking  it  a 
good  offer,  resigned  her  position  and 
went,  her  railroad  ticket  being  fur- 
nished by  the  lady  who  employed  her. 
On  being  initiated  in  the  new  home,  the 
piano  was  opened  and  she  was  told  that 


114  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

she  might  play  on  it  as  much  as  she 
liked.  When  the  meals  were  prepared, 
she  was  given  a  place  by  the  lady's  side 
at  the  table,  suddenly  bringing  her  into 
a  new  world  where  she  received  all  the 
advantages  of  her  employer's  social  and 
domestic  life. 

Two  weeks  later,  just  at  day  dawn, 
my  southern  friend  opened  her  back 
door,  and  there  stood  the  girl,  who  had 
left  her  for  the  more  promising  place, 
with  a  look  of  real  distress  on  her  face. 
She  had  walked  the  whole  of  the  dis- 
tance— over  forty  miles — to  get  back  to 
her  former  mistress,  and  when  ques- 
tioned as  to  why  she  was  there,  said: 
"Law,  Missus  Maria,  I  jist  couldn't  live 
any  longer  wid  dat  ole  thing.  Anybody 
'ud  know  dat  lived  dar  dat  she's  no 
'count.  Law,  it's  jist  awful  de  way  she 
does!  She  treats  a  niggah  jist  'zactly 
like  she  does  a  white  pusson.  Her 
money  shore  couldn't  buy  me  no  longer. 
I  wouldn't  wo'k  fur  her  any  mo'  if  she'd 
pay  me  five  dollars  a  week.    When  I 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        115 

wo'ks  I  gwine  ter  wo'k  fur  'spectable 
people  or  none,  you  ken  jist  count  on 
this  niggah  fur  dat!"  A  few  months 
later  she  decided  to  link  her  destiny 
with  one  of  the  opposite  sex.  A  white 
lady,  by  way  of  congratulating  her  on 
her  marriage,  said:  "Well,  Jany,  I 
hope  your  husband  will  be  a  good  pro- 
vider, then  you  will  not  have  to  work  so 
hard  as  you  did  when  you  was  single. " 
With  a  smile  which  betokened  per- 
fect confidence  and  contentment,  she 
replied:  "Good  providah?  I'd  say  he 
wus  a  good  providah.  He's  done  found 
me  three  places  ter  wash  already." 


116  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

CHAPTER  X 

A  RIOT  IN  THE  CUMBERLANDS 

In  the  Kentucky  Mountains,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  where 
I  had  been  working,  I  was  asked  to 
visit  a  town  where  a  strong  missionary 
work  was  much  needed. 

It  is  with  some  reluctance  that  I  re- 
late the  details  of  my  first  religious 
adventure  in  this  new  section,  owing 
to  the  startling  character  of  a  scene 
which  I  was  compelled  to  witness  im- 
mediately on  my  arrival. 

Just  prior  to  my  leaving  for  this 
point,  a  friend  of  mine  gave  me  the 
address  of  a  certain  hotel  in  the  place, 
the  accommodations  of  which  she  con- 
sidered preferable  to  others. 

On  reaching  there  in  the  afternoon, 
I  walked  up  to  the  front  gate,  meeting 
two  ladies  in  the  yard,  whose  anxious 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        117, 

faces  and  moist  eyes  gave  evidence  that 
they  were  undergoing  some  very  un- 
usual strain  of  excitement. 

On  asking  them  if  I  could  have  a 
room  for  the  night  they  looked  con- 
fused, exchanging  hurried  glances,  as 
if  wondering  what  they  ought  to  do, 
acting  all  the  time  as  if  they  were  in 
some  deep  distress  which  they  were  not 
willing  to  confide  to  a  stranger. 

Unable  to  get  a  definite  answer  as  to 
whether  I  was  to  go  or  stay,  I  lessened 
the  embarrassment  of  the  situation  by 
arising  from  the  rustic  seat  into  which 
I  had  dropped  for  a  moment,  kindly 
saying,  as  I  did  so,  that  I  had  business 
up  town  and  would  probably  return 
later. 

They  at  once  took  their  former  posi- 
tions beside  the  gate,  gazing  in  a  fright- 
ened manner  directly  across  the  street. 

By  the  time  I  had  seen  a  business  man 
to  whom  I  had  a  letter  of  introduction, 
it  was  growing  dark,  and  as  I  turned 


118  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

to  leave  his  store  he  asked  me  where  I 
intended  to  put  up  for  the  night. 

On  mentioning  the  hotel  in  question, 
he  said:  "Let  me  advise  you:  don't  go 
back  on  that  street  at  all,  but  go  up  on 
the  hill,"  giving  me  the  name  of  another 
boarding  house.  He  added:  "There 
was  a  little  trouble  down  on  that  street 
this  afternoon,  and  there  may  be  more 
tonight." 

I  had  barely  reached  the  house  on  the 
hill  when  there  was  a  great  dynamite 
explosion  on  the  street  below,  right  be- 
side this  same  hotel. 

The  porch  on  which  I  was  stand- 
ing quivered,  windows  rattled,  doors 
banged,  women  screamed,  and  little 
children  running  to  and  fro  cried  as  if 
frightened  out  of  their  senses. 

There  was  so  much  excitement,  and 
all  seemed  so  absorbed  in  watching  pro- 
ceedings on  the  street  below  that  I  was 
compelled  to  stand  there  in  the  midst 
of  all  this  chaos  for  at  least  ten  minutes 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        119 

without   being   able   to   ascertain   the 
cause  of  the  commotion. 

The  men  of  the  house  lined  up  close 
together,  seating  themselves  on  the 
banister  of  the  piazza,  quietly  smoking 
their  pipes  as  if  nothing  unusual  had 
happened. 

A  young  man,  a  member  of  the  family 
who  kept  the  hotel,  had  shot  an  old 
gentleman  that  afternoon  about  one 
o'clock.  His  brothers  locked  him  up  in 
their  grocery  store  for  safety,  as  the 
jail  in  that  place  had  been  torn  down 
in  a  former  riot  some  time  before — 
adopting  this  plan  to  prevent  his  being 
shot  down  by  the  old  man's  sons,  who 
were  just  across  the  street  loading  their 
guns  for  that  purpose  when  I  got  off 
the  train  and  asked  the  two  ladies  in 
the  yard  if  I  could  have  a  room  for  the 
night. 

These  two  women  were  the  sisters  of 
the  young  man  who  had  done  the  shoot- 
ing, he  being  locked  up  at  this  time, 
guarded  by  seven  of  his  friends. 


120  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

Immediately  following  the  dynamite 
explosion,  there  were  about  three  hun- 
dred shots  fired.  The  victim  of  the 
young  man's  fatal  shot  was  not  yet 
dead,  though  he  had  but  a  short  time 
to  live.  The  men  in  the  store  were 
blown  up  to  the  ceiling,  though  but 
slightly  injured.  The  store  was  com- 
pletely demolished — shelves,  counters 
and  groceries  all  piled  up  in  one  pro- 
miscuous heap.  The  murderer  escaped, 
boarding  a  train  some  distance  below 
the  station,  and  the  firing  of  guns  con- 
tinued all  night  at  intervals  on  the  hotel 
and  other  houses,  where  it  was  thought 
the  young  man  might  have  sought 
refuge.  The  enraged  posse  of  boys 
seeking  to  avenge  their  father's  wrong 
controlled  the  town  all  night;  not  a  soul 
dared  to  step  outside  their  houses  until 
the  next  morning,  lest  they  might  be 
killed  by  stray  bullets. 

The  home  of  the  dying  man  being 
just  two  squares  from  my  room,  and 
knowing  he  would  soon  be  ushered  into 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        121 

eternity,  and  perhaps  unprepared,  my 
interest  was  naturally  directed  toward 
him. 

Early  in  the  morning  I  asked  my  host 
if  he  thought  it  safe  for  me  to  visit  him, 
and  he  said  he  thought  no  harm  could 
come  to  me,  as  all  seemed  quiet  at  that 
time.  I  found  him  conscious,  though 
unable  to  speak.  His  wife  and  daugh- 
ters were  at  his  bedside,  and  the  room 
was  filled  with  men — seven  sons,  a  num- 
ber of  nephews  and  other  relatives — 
whose  bloodthirsty  riot  was  unceasing 
from  the  early  twilight  until  the  day 
dawn. 

On  telling  them  I  was  a  Christian 
worker  and  would  like  to  offer  a  prayer 
for  their  father,  to  my  surprise  all 
seemed  grateful,  and  within  the  next 
moment  every  one  in  the  room  knelt 
down,  and  as  I  commended  the  soul  of 
the  dying  man  to  God  there  was  sob- 
bing and  weeping  most  pathetic. 

I  afterwards  learned  that  the  only 
minister  living  there  had  been  sent  for 


122  "Them  Missionary  Women' 

by  the  family  twice  in  the  afternoon 
before  the  riot  began,  and«had  refused 
to  go.  Later  he  excused  himself  to  me, 
saying  "that  he  had  no  faith  to  pray 
for  a  man  on  his  death  bed  who  had 
spent  all  his  life  in  sin." 

My  train  out  was  due  in  just  thirty 
minutes.  Leaving  this  sad  scene  I 
walked  over  to  the  store  so  unmercifully 
wrecked  the  evening  before,  and  there 
in  the  rear  end  of  a  "blind  tiger,"  lying 
dead,  just  as  they  had  fallen,  was  a  tall 
man  and  a  large  woman,  killed  by  stray 
bullets  during  the  night. 

The  yard,  stained  with  human  blood, 
presented  the  appearance  of  a  slaughter 
house.  The  woman,  being  a  disrep- 
utable character,  was  left  lying  there 
three  days  unburied.  The  man  was  a 
murderer,  having  killed  two  other  men 
in  years  past.  The  Bible  text,  "The 
wicked  shall  be  suddenly  destroyed  and 
that  without  remedy,"  was  certainly 
verified  in  this  shocking  scene,  and  that 
missionary  work  was  much  needed  there 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        123 

I  never  questioned  after  this  exciting 
introduction  to  the  town;  but  leaving 
the  problem  for  some  other  missionary 
to  work  out,  I  departed,  feeling  that 
the  surface  between  that  place  and  the 
lower  regions  wTas  altogether  too  thin 
for  my  comfort,  and  with  about  as  much 
faith  for  the  towrn  in  general  as  the 
minister  had  exhibited  for  the  wounded 
man  in  particular. 

This  striking  incident  of  the  old 
man's  boys  sending  for  the  minister  in 
his  extremity  showed  how  firmly  they 
all  believed  in  orthodox  religion;  but 
the  vicious  loading  of  their  shot  guns, 
writh  hatred  and  murder  boiling  in  their 
hearts  at  the  same  time,  reminded  me 
of  the  words  of  Colton:  "Men  will 
wrangle  for  religion,  write  for  it,  fight 
for  it,  die  for  it,  everything  but  live 
for  it." 


124  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

CHAPTER  XI 

A  PROMISCUOUS  GATHERING  UNDER  A  SHED 

During  the  month  of  August,  in  a 
beautiful  section  of  the  Cumberland 
range,  I  was  asked  by  a  number  of  per- 
sons living  in  a  small  village,  without 
a  church  or  Sunday  school  of  any  kind, 
to  come  there  and  give  them  a  series  of 
meetings. 

The  only  available  place  where  a  con- 
gregation could  be  gathered  was  under 
a  rough  shed,  formerly  used  for  mining 
purposes,  some  distance  from  the  vil- 
lage, in  the  woods. 

A  place  more  weird,  or  a  gathering  of 
people  more  diversified  in  character, 
would  be  hard  to  find.  One  woman,  the 
mother  of  seven  children,  living  in  a  log 
cabin  on  a  little  farm,  attended  these 
services,  alwTays  taking  a  prominent 
seat  in  front  with  an  air  suggestive  of 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        125 

great  self  respect,  though  neither  she, 
nor  her  mother,  nor  her  grandmother, 
had  ever  been  married.  A  few  men  who 
had  in  cold  blood  killed  a  number  of  men 
were  in  attendance,  and  many  others 
who  were  addicted  to  drink. 

As  for  Christian  workers!  Wherever 
an  educated  minister  or  missionary  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  a  congregation  of 
people  together  in  that  region  for  prof- 
itable teaching,  it  was  surprising  how 
many  would  suddenty  spring  up.  But 
unfortunately,  the  kind  plentiful  were 
of  a  kind  most  undesirable.  Illiterate 
religious  brawlers,  swooping  down  upon 
audiences  in  gangs  of  from  three  to  six 
in  number,  never  failing  to  avail  them- 
selves of  every  opportunity  to  air  their 
pet  doctrines  and  to  entertain  the  peo- 
ple, regardless  of  time,  with  a  great  deal 
of  empty  noise ;  for  with  them  noise  was 
power,  and  as  their  chief  difficulty  lay 
in  the  fact  that  so  few  people  were  ever 
attracted  by  the  noise  they  made,  in 
order  to  get  a  decent  hearing  they  were 


126  "Them  Missionary  Women' 

forced  to  prey  upon  audiences  gathered 
by  more  intelligent  workers,  who,  in 
turn,  with  regret  many  times,  were 
obliged  to  quietly  and  tactfully  make 
such  disposition  of  them  as  seemed  best 
for  the  congregation  and  the  work  in 
hand,  especially  when  they  become  self 
announced  to  preach,  and  to  take  the 
leadership  of  an  orderly,  prosperous 
work  fully  in  the  hands  of  others. 

In  this  first  meeting  under  the  shed, 
the  congregation  being  large,  I  was 
honored  with  a  delegation  of  this  kind, 
who  thought  it  would  be  the  easiest 
thing  possible  to  take  an  audience  away 
from  a  woman.  But,  having  had  expe- 
rience with  their  kind  on  other  impor- 
tant occasions,  I  was  but  little  incon- 
venienced by  their  intrusion. 

Though  the  leader  was  so  intent  upon 
things  going  his  way,  and  fearing  lest 
the  doxology  or  the  benediction  might 
follow  the  address  without  a  period,  he 
rose  while  I  was  yet  speaking  to  an- 
nounce that  he  thought  it  a  shame  to 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        127 

dismiss  so  interested  an  audience,  and 
that  he  would  preach  one  hour  when  I 
was  done  speaking.  Being  quietly  de- 
feated in  his  plans,  he  then  called  the 
attention  of  the  people  to  himself  after 
I  had  dismissed  them  in  an  orderly  way, 
and  in  tones  not  at  all  remarkable  for 
gentleness,  he  again  announced  that  "if 
they  would  remain  another  hour  he 
would  preach  them  a  sermon  they 
would  all  be  glad  to  hear."  But  when 
they  all  with  one  accord  turned  their 
faces  toward  home,  he,  too,  vanished, 
taking  his  friends  with  him.  An  old 
lady,  referring  to  the  matter  shortly 
after,  said  to  a  friend  of  mine:  "That 
o-l-d  t-a-c-k-y  p-r-e-a-c-h-e-r!  thinkin' 
he  could  git  us  ter  stay  an'  hear  him 
after  hearin'  that  missionary  woman 
talk.  The  old  t-a-c-k-y  t-h-i-n-g;  ever' 
body  in  this  'ere  settlement  knows 
about  the  chicken  coops  he's  robbed,  an' 
how  he  leaves  his  wife  ter  chop  the 
wood,  while  he  hauls  in  his  neighbors' 


128  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

chickens  to  roast  in  the  fire;  we'uns  all 
knowed  jist  how  t-a-c-k-e-y  h-e  w-a-s." 

At  this  time  I  was  making  my  head- 
quarters in  a  beautiful  town  not  far 
from  the  village,  with  some  four  or  five 
churches,  one  of  which  was  presided 
over  by  a  courteous,  intellectual  and 
spiritual  pastor,  who  deemed  it  a  priv- 
ilege to  attend  the  meeting  whenever  I 
was  in  need  of  help,  and  to  render  the 
right  kind  of  assistance  in  preaching  to 
this  needy  flock. 

Our  system  for  lighting  the  shed  was 
much  in  the  rear  of  the  times.  Those 
who  could  afford  a  lantern  would  fetch 
one  along,  hanging  it  on  a  nail  driven 
for  that  purpose  on  the  outer  rim  of  the 
shed.  While  this  simple  method  did 
away  with  the  expense  of  a  janitor's 
service,  it  also  had  its  drawbacks,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  many  on  whose  lanterns 
I  was  obliged  to  depend  would  persist 
in  coming  late;  some  would  be  unavoid- 
ably detained  at  home,  while  others,  for- 
getting to  fetch  their  lanterns  along, 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains       129 

kept  me  in  a  state  of  vague  uncertainty 
as  to  whether  \  would  have  suifficienl 
light  to  read  a  scripture  lesson  or  to 
discern  the  faces  of  the  people  with  any 
degree  of  satisfaction. 

The  exact  location  of  the  shed  being 
in  a  low  depression  between  two  hills 
in  a  thick  forest,  a  favorite  rendezvous 
for  that  most  doleful  of  all  night  prowl- 
ers, the  hoot  owl,  I  was  compelled  on 
several  occasions  to  sit  on  a  crude  bench 
in  the  dark,  but  for  the  twinkling  of 
a  fewT  stars  in  the  heavens,  and  listen 
to  the  hoarse,  weird  strains  of  these 
night  warblers  while  waiting  for  the 
people  to  gather  for  the  service.  Once, 
just  as  my  little  friend,  who  always 
went  with  me,  was  making  some  re- 
mark likening  ourselves  to  the  "Babes 
in  the  woods,"  suddenly  there  was  a 
great  flashing  of  lights  just  peeking 
over  the  brow  of  the  hills.  For  once  all 
the  people  seemed  to  be  coming  at  the 
same  time,  and  the  full  number  of  lan- 
terns breaking  in  upon  the  darkness  was 


130  "Them  Missionary  Women" 

almost  as  impressive  as  the  sudden 
flashing  of  the  lamps  by  Gideon's  army, 
putting  the  Midianites  to  flight.  After 
the  usual  exercise  of  stringing  the 
lights  on  the  nails,  the  people  being 
quietly  seated,  the  service  opened. 

'Twas  at  a  time  when  I  was  feeling 
the  need  of  special  help,  though  not  ex- 
pecting it  from  any  source  whatever. 
While  the  message  was  being  given  a 
stranger  came  into  the  meeting,  mani- 
festing an  unusual  interest  in  what  was 
going  on.  During  the  testimony  service 
which  followed,  my  friend  Avhispered  to 
me,  mentioning  the  name  of  this 
stranger,  to  let  me  know  that  he  was 
there,  a  celebrated  minister  and  edu- 
cator in  the  Southern  Highlands.  Of 
this  noted  personage,  born  in  the  cap- 
ital of  Pennsylvania,  and  educated  in  a 
southern  Michigan  college,  I  had  heard 
much  from  a  number  of  sources,  but  had 
never  met  him,  though  I  had  been  work- 
ing for  over  a  year  not  far  from  his 
headquarters.    He,  returning  from  one 


Work  in  the  Southern  Mountains        131 

of  his  rounds  of  duties  and  passing  near 

the  shed,  stopped  to  find  out  the  mean- 
ing of  this  interested  assembly  in  this 
strange  place,  lit  up  in  a  strange  way. 
But  finding  the  meeting  and  leadership 
right  in  line  with  some  of  his  own  re- 
ligious enterprises  in  that  region,  lie 
fully  endorsed  it  all,  showing  a  marked 
willingness  to  preach  or  to  help  out  in 
any  way  during  the  week  following. 
He  being  the  best  acquainted  with  the 
customs  and  needs  of  the  southern 
mountaineers  of  any  man  in  the  south, 
having  had  a  long  and  varied  experi- 
ence in  the  evangelistic,  school  and  tem- 
perance work  among  them,  I  felt  very 
grateful  for  this  timely  assistance. 

Crude  as  it  was,  the  event  of  that 
shed  meeting  could  never  be  forgotten 
by  either  of  us.  Not  because  the  place 
was  weird,  the  lights  dim,  or  part  of 
the  music  furnished  by  the  owls  in  the 
trees;  nor  on  account  of  the  striking 
characters  that  made  up  my  audience; 
but  for  a  far  different  reason,  namely, 


132  "Them  Missionary  Womc?i" 

it  was  the  place  where  two  Christian 
workers  engaged  in  the  same  kind  of 
work,  met  for  the  first  time,  who  after- 
wards decided  to  walk  together  through 
life.  This  worthy  and  experienced  min- 
ister suggesting  later  that  I  make  his 
home  (which  was  a  good  one)  my  head- 
quarters, and  this  plan  meeting  my  own 
approval,  at  a  convenient  time  in  the 
future  I  acted  upon  it,  taking  the  name 
of  the  one  who  was  kind  enough  to  make 
the  suggestion. 

The  amount  of  good  resulting  from 
that  evangelistic  effort  under  the  shed 
we  could  by  no  means  measure;  but  for 
a  particular  reason  known  to  ourselves, 
the  minister  and  I  pronounced  it  a 
grand  success. 


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